A Dragonfly's Heart
by Draenog Glas
Summary: Amy, a princess of the Northern Kingdom, is banished after she rejects an arranged marriage. As she tries to survive in these swamplands, she meets an exiled hedgehog from the South, afflicted with a curse. Can she ignite his blackened heart? AU. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Title: A Dragonfly's Heart**

**Rating/Warnings: Teen (Blood, mild language)**

**Comments: Not many. Not sure if I want to focus on this story after I just completed Schiza. I actually had an idea for this story a while ago but I was afraid to make it on the pile of more stories I have to do. However, this is a lot more different than most of my other ones, so I'm going to be working on this one for a while.**

_Don't cry little one, don't be afraid_

_Don't be afraid of your emotions_

_Trapping you in a mental cage_

_We are still here, you and me_

_And I will protect you, don't be scared to look and see_

_We will hold hands until the jaylark sings_

_Until the sun and moon are a'hanged over the trees_

_Our bodies are united, we will never part_

_We will fly together, I will take you under my wing_

_And you will forever know of_

_A dragonfly's heart_

_-Old Northern Kingdom poem, author unknown_

She looked in his eyes, and she said no.

This man, she thought, was not good enough for her. He just wasn't right. She had no feelings towards him, and she was pretty sure he had no feelings towards her either! What a clown, what a fool! He spent his time singing to all the girls that she thought were far prettier than her and flirting with them! Why did her father choose this man to be wed with? He was a kook, a moron! He could only count by using his fingers; he didn't even know his basic geography of this land, even if a map was staring at him right in the face!

But yet she was wearing a glorious dress, one that her father most likely paid very good money for, a dress that was white as the sky this day, with silky seams marked with some gold and diamonds. But she didn't care at all for being pampered by her father on this day. She barely cared to be married to this man. She was a princess, an inexperienced princess she thought, and even _she _knew that this man was not king material. Her father wasn't a very good judge of that. He only cared about the family's wealth, thinking it also showed intelligence and leadership.

"What do you mean no, my good daughter?" her father said, astonished, as his plans seemed to fall apart. "This man will treat you right! He will let you have a happy and prosperous life as a queen! He's got everything you want in a man: brave, funny, smart…"

"He is none of those things!" she shouted, badly wanting to tear her wedding dress right off if she wasn't naked underneath. "I don't want to be married to this man! I think I should have a choice on who I want to marry, father!"

"But Amy, you know that men carry most of the decisions in the kingdom! Women shouldn't be trusted on carrying those decisions, like money and the war we have with the Southern Kingdom…"

"And why do you think a woman can't do all those things? I'm a hedgehog, I have rights too, don't you realize that, father?"

"But girls like you shouldn't be allowed to make major decisions, even you know that!"

She couldn't believe him. She always knew her father was old-fashioned, but he was basically undermining her simply because she was a woman. How did her mother even put up with this? How did her younger sibling put up with this too, before she died? But she wasn't going to take this. No man was going to try to "put her in her place". What did her so-called "husband" knew about the kingdom anyways? She most likely knew more than him, but yet her father was going to allow him to make all the decisions. It infuriated her.

"I'm not going to marry him. I don't love him. That's final, father. I don't care if I'll never be a queen. Find a woman who will let herself be pushed around by you to do that."

She hated these heels too that her father made her wear. She could barely walk without tripping over her own feet and stepping on her dress. She tried to run from her father and into her room, but she stumbled and made a big rip in her dress, the silky seams torn and showing her legs. But she continued onwards. All these perverted men should keep looking; it was the last they were going to see of her.

She took off of that Chaos-forsaken dress and put on the cheapest clothes she could find, something that she thought looked similar to a potato sack. Good enough, wouldn't want to travel this world wearing an expensive dress. Her father could keep them and sell them. She had no use for them anymore. She was going to resign her position as a princess. She couldn't stand her royal family anymore.

Everyone would think being a princess was a dream come true for all those little poor girls in her kingdom who want to be treated fairly and just. But here? No. She was treated like a second-class citizen with her family around. Even her mother was submissive and followed all the men's orders. Enough of that, she thought. She was just as good as all these men, even better than that clown her father wanted her to wed.

She thought about putting on her makeup, but she knew that would make all the men think of her as an object. Enough of that too. She wasn't going to pretty herself up for a sleazebag. Enough of that.

Her father turned to her when she put all the food she could fit in her knapsack, pointing a finger to her that made Amy even more angered.

"Once you leave this kingdom, you will be hereby banished! Do you hear me, Amy Emilia Rose? You will be banished! You can't come back to me crying that you're hungry and cold! I will make sure you never come back! As far as I know of, I have no daughter! You are just as dead as your sister, Diana!"

The more her father spoke, the more her temper flared. She didn't care that she was banished. So much for the whole large banquets she got to eat everyday, her father afraid of her getting "too big". So much for the disrespect and marrying some pig she wasn't even in love with! She tried to contain herself from screaming back at her father. She wanted so much to tell him that she hated him. And that she didn't care that she was going to be banished. But she knew it would only make his yelling worse. So she was silent as she packed up her sack and headed out the door.

"Amy, if you walk out the door, I will banish you! You might as well go back to the Southern Kingdom you traitor! My own daughter, a traitor! Much good you are! You'll get killed like Diana, you know!"

Before she could slam the door on her father, her mother, a big hedgehog after all her days eating and sitting in her royal chair, blocked the exit, hoping she could talk to her.

"Dear, you can't walk out of here! I don't want to forget you like your father seems to be so set on doing! I love you, Amy! I love you much like I loved Diana. You can't be serious about going out there outside of the kingdom, are you? You wouldn't survive!"

Her mother could see a gleam in her jade eyes. "Oh yeah? Watch me. I think if I stayed here any longer I'd kill myself."

"You can't be serious, dear!" Her mother latched onto her shoulders, before she could make her final steps out the door. "There are weaselwolfs! Fox-o-loxes! Swamp dragons! You will die out there, Amy. You don't even have any form of protection. You will die!"

Her warning still couldn't be heard by her, as if she was deaf. "If I'm dead then, my father can have the guilt in burying me."

Then she slammed the royal doors.

She was officially considered banished by her father.

Everyone in the kingdom blindly followed her father. They threw stones at her, they called her nasty names. _Bitch, slut, whore, harlot! _But the words could keep coming to her. The stones could bruise her and cut her. She still wouldn't be with her father. In no way in Iblis's furnace. She would rather be banished than live here.

She reached the farthest side of the kingdom, rubbing her bruises and cuts. There were only the sick, the poor, and the crazy here. She wouldn't receive any pain from them. Simply moaning, requests to give them what little she had, and rants on how the end was nigh and she had to pray to Solaris to get out of the furnace. But she ignored them. She wished she could help, but she had problems of herself to think right now, though she gave a starving sick hedgehog a little piece of her bread. She had enough to eat at the kingdom, why should she let all these people starve simply because she was born under her father?

Then she stepped on the soft grass. She officially left the Northern Kingdom. She could see all the twisted trees before her, their branches filled with glowing gems burning fiercely and fruits that were waiting to be plucked. The grass was still moist until she noticed her feet plunging into water. They were close to a swamp, after all. Her feet were going to get wet, which meant her royal shoes were going to be ruined. She at first didn't care, but now she realized how much she prized those shoes, and how much her father paid for them, and how disgusting all these swamps were and how dirty her feet felt and what if her feet got a few bloodslimes on her, yuck! But she was glad she didn't wear a good dress this night. It would've surely got dirty and ruined.

20 minutes passed, and her feet already grew tired, and it looked as if it was going to rain. _No, please don't, _she pleaded to the sky. She already felt cold with having the entire bottom of her body from her waist being submerged in dirty swamp water. And she realized she was scared too. She heard of fish that her kingdom called _lampposts, _a fish that sometimes you could plainly see if it's trying to hunt by putting an antenna above the water, a glowing yellow orb at the end of it that always attracted the many bloodfliers and nasty flies. But you couldn't avoid the orb. Right when you gazed at it, you came closer to it, and you kept walking towards as if you were in a trance, and then this hideous fish with many jagged teeth that was just as big as her kingdom would leap up and swallow her whole. And that was the worst fate imaginable, she thought. Having her dead body unrecoverable by her father because it got swallowed by a fish. And no one would even know that she was dead.

Then there were swamp dragons, overgrown scaly lizards with jagged teeth that would laze over at the water's edge. They would have no problem to tear right through her either. Her body would be eaten, and the only thing that would be left were her shreds of her pitiable clothing.

It rained, as she sat at the edge of a tree, scaring herself with all these possibilities on how she would die here, and she was freezing and huddling the tree for whatever warmth she could get. She opened her knapsack and noticed her food was no good anymore. It was soggy and wet, and she grimaced at how disgusting it felt. She certainly wasn't going to eat that!

She ripped the moist bread in pieces, even if it felt gross to her hands, into the water, watching all the tiny colorful fish gulping all the fragments that floated and nibbling the piece. She shivered, but couldn't help but be glad there was no sign of groupchompers. They would sense the blood in her arms and be picked away until she was nothing but bones. And it also terrified her to think her life could end like that.

At least the cheese was salvageable, even a little moist. She ate the cheese and sat at this tree, with its glowing branches and fruits like a lamp at night. She didn't want to move for a while. Her feet stung and hurt.

She watched the wildlife for a while as the sun waned and was swallowed by the trees. She was too afraid to move around here in the dark. It wasn't a pleasant thought for her to even think, but she realized she almost pissed herself thinking about her walking all over these swamplands in pure darkness and having your life end by stepping on a swamp dragon and being torn to bits and pieces. So she had to stay here for the night, even if she was benumbed and fearful for anything that could find her here and eat her. Even if she constantly scratched and slapped her skin until it was red like a rash and full of white bumbs from the bloodfliers that feasted on her body. It was definitely much different from sleeping on her royal bed. And she couldn't stand it.

She thought of home again. The hot meals and having a comfortable bed and being warm and taking soothing baths…no, she hated her father. She had to travel far from the kingdom. There was no use in going back. She was banished.

But still, she missed it. She even missed her mother, her mother that had her looks even if she was quite obese, even if she followed her father no matter what. But the more she thought about home, the more she would wish to go back and suffer. She had to distract herself on something else till she fell asleep. Even if the bumps and bloodfliers still irked her.

She saw something red and black land on a leaf before her when the sun was almost completely gone. It was a dragonfly, red and dappled with black spots, like the coals and burnt wood in her fireplace back at the kingdom. It was motionless, as if it was examining the swamp that was ahead of him, how much further he had to fly before he could arrive home before the sun was completely gone, and then it flit in the air again, leaving Amy behind.

Dragonflies were different in Amy's world. While these dragonflies still had most of the characteristics of dragonflies back in our world, these dragonflies were willing to help other dragonflies in need, and they sometimes flew in twos or packs. Some even mated by spiraling themselves in the air, their bodies entwined. No one was sure why these dragonflies were much different than the ones in the human's world (and everyone always told Amy to avoid those humans, they were nothing but greedy and slimy bastards who wished to cause her harm and eat her), but she thought the dragonflies here simply evolved to being mutual with each other in this land, and it was where the term "I will be as kind as the dragonfly's heart" came from. She heard it many times from that joke that was going to be her "husband". It was always something that made the men try to get the ladies to have sex with them. It was heinous, she thought, to compare their greedy and lustful hearts to something that was as beautiful as a creature as the dragonfly. And she wished it would stop, but at least she wouldn't hear it here.

The Southern Kingdom was still very far away from her. The Western Kingdom was actually closer, but it was a kingdom she wouldn't fit in too very well, a kingdom usually full of echidnas and bats. She might as well become a traitor, she thought. Even if the Southerners somehow killed her sister. But she never heard the whole story behind that.

She heard that her sister was trying to be an ambassador to the Southern Kingdom when suddenly, she went missing. Her father sent troops over at the kingdom to find her; trying to salvage her body, and she remembered her father back then only saying that she was doing very important matters back at that kingdom. She wasn't dead. She was still alive, your sister is a very good ambassador, why would they hurt your dear little sister Diana?

And they found her with her neck slit and her possessions stolen. She was definitely murdered, and her father blamed it on the entire kingdom and ordered a war on them, even if he didn't know who committed the crime. He didn't blame it on the murderer. Just the entire Southern Kingdom.

But she never saw any fighting or a single troop when she walked in this swamp. Many of them died when they tried to walk to the other kingdom. Some were ill-prepared to face the swamp. Some get eaten by swamp dragons, lampposts, and groupchompers. Some get diseases and die. There were more causalities in the path to the kingdoms than the actual kingdoms themselves. They rarely had an attacker come to their castle walls, but still, they prepared themselves even if it was a very rare occasion.

And thinking of this, she realized her mother was right.

_You will die out here. You have nothing to protect yourself with. You will die out here._

She closed her eyes, in a half-asleep daze, as she mumbled to herself, "Then let it be. Let it be."

And she fell asleep, listening to the frogs croak and the cricket's lullaby of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I'm going to take a break from writing this story for a while because I feel like my writing is just not as good as it used to been lately. But when I feel like it's getting better and recovering, I'll go back to writing this fic. **

The Western Kingdom is vastly different from the North and South, and even more different than the East. The North and South are mostly inhabited by hedgehogs, and they've always been wary of the other side since the Great Schism that occurred about a hundred years ago.

The Western Kingdom's citizens are mostly echidnas and bats that decided to coexist when they met a long time ago in Neo Geo Woods, and have resided peacefully. There is a small percentage of other animals that live in this kingdom, some that are anteaters and squirrels that have decided to escape from the "tyranny" of the North and South Kingdoms.

The West do not believe in war, but yet are one of the only kingdoms that can manufacture weapons such as guns and cannons, so the only kingdom that tries to bother them are the East, but only because they're proud and wish one day to rule all the kingdoms, even if some secretly know it's a distant dream.

There is only one ruler in the West Kingdom, named Mistress Rouge. The kingdom considered her as strong as a king, and after her father, King Brucius, died from a fatal illness, she was ordered to lead.

But while she and the others consider her a good leader, she thought that her father's illness spread to her husband.

The Western Kingdom, despite having a monarchy, could barely be called a "kingdom", as it's the poorest, not even having a castle. Everyone, including the queen, lived in dirt thatches that led to the underground. But Rouge didn't mind this at all. She thought this made her closer to her people, not having these elaborate homes and actually feeling the pain that goes along with not being able to afford something she really wanted. It made her want to change things in this kingdom. She thought the people's voices were louder to her.

She rubbed the gun with her cloth, the smooth silver showing and gleaming in the little light by her kerosene lamp. She was mindlessly wiping away all the dirt and smudge from this gun, as her mind was stuck in this perpetual daydream, a daydream that she wished she could get herself out of, but it rang in her mind continuously, and her eyes were bloodshot from the lack of sleep, her fingernails were chipped and dirty, and her breathing seemed to get shorter and faster the more she thought about it.

_I'm afraid there isn't…much I can do about your husband, Mistress Rouge. I'm afraid that…in a month, he'll be completely paralyzed, maybe even dead. I'm sorry._

She cocked the gun, then inserted bullets inside the slot. Her hands were shaking, the gun trembling in her hold, as she looked out and seemed to prepare to fire it. But there was nothing to shoot at, she thought. The only thing she wanted to shoot at was possibly anyone who dared to keep her from her goal, but only because of one reason.

She feared that day. She feared on getting up in the morning, drinking her tea, thinking that everything on this morning was exactly like other mornings. Look at the bright sunlight, how beautiful this day was, what a gorgeous breakfast to feast on this fine day and what a splendid tea. Except, of course, she had to remind herself of her husband. How was he doing? She certainly had to check up on him before she went out into the world, trying to make this kingdom run smoothly as she mulled over all these politics. But she didn't like to think of her husband over in that bed, so sick, but what kind of a wife would she be if she completely ignored him and left him to suffer?

She went into his room, her feet making the loudest sound on the floor, sounding like thunderclaps in the sky. She didn't hear her husband's labored breathing. She heard nothing, except the jaylark's songs outside and her feet stepping on the dirt. She hid her husband behind a curtain of bamboo that veiled his bed, and she began to palpitate, her hands quaking as if a tremor was in her body, on how eerily quiet the room was, and she wished she could just close the curtains and leave him alone, thinking he was alright. But it was her duty, her God given duty to make sure he was okay.

And when she opened the curtains, she saw her nightmare, and she screamed.

She watched as he had maggots all over his body, flies spitting and eating his carcass, as he seemed to give out his last breath in agony and the wretched creatures eating his eyes, black blood seeping from his eye sockets onto the bed.

And when she thought of that image in her dreams again, she nearly fired off her gun in shock. She wanted to cry as it kept flashing in her head, but she didn't want him to worry. He had enough to worry about. But yet her hands kept trembling and her breath was faster and her heart kept beating so quick she thought it was going to explode.

"Rouge, what's wrong?"

And she glanced at him when she turned around. He was alive, but still sick and a little crippled. He was a red echidna wearing a light blue cotton gown (she hated to see him like this, but it told everyone in the kingdom that he was ill), and his face looked grim, as he was genuinely worried.

"Rouge, is something the matter?" he asked again.

It took her a while to speak, as her mouth felt so dry and she also thought she was becoming speechless on the daydream. "N-Nothing honey, please go back to bed."

"But you really look upset. It's like you've just seen a ghost or something."

"It's okay, I'm fine," she replied without emotion. "Go back to bed. I'll make you breakfast and bring you tea in a moment…"

"Why are you messing around with that gun again? It really worries me."

She sighed despondently. She had to tell him the truth on what she wanted to do with it. She didn't want him to worry and think she was going to shoot herself.

"I'm going to try to find the Dragonfly's Heart for you, baby. I'm going to find it, and once you eat it your sickness will be gone and we'll be together as a husband and wife again. And you no longer have to stay in that bed all day and wither away like a plant with no water. But other people are going to try to get it. It only grows once a year, and if I wait any longer than a month, you'll be dead. You know that. I'm willing to do anything to get my hands on that fruit, for you to grow out of your sickness. And if anyone dares to get in my way to help you…" She aimed the gun again, to show to him that she meant it. She loved her husband. Some said too much, but she never wanted to see him dead. Not in her lifetime, and she was willing to fire that gun at anyone who wanted the Dragonfly's Heart simply because of some stupid selfish reason that she would never understand.

The Heart was not yet ripe right now, however. She had to wait a few more weeks before she could try to pluck it. She didn't know how much time she had, but she researched all she could on this fruit, even on the death toll each year on the fight to receive this Heart. And she prepared herself on how she might die on this trip, and she couldn't imagine her husband suffering more. But this was her only chance to heal him. She knew that. She couldn't think of staying here and watching him die. She would risk her life for his, no matter what.

But yet the sick echidna couldn't imagine her dead before her. He feared death, but he also couldn't imagine finding Rouge dead in the middle of the forest while he was still alive, wasting away in bed. But he knew he had to let her go. There was truly nothing he could do, even if all he wanted was her to stay with him on his final days. And even if he said it to her, she would still be set on finding this fruit.

"Anything for you Knuckles. I won't let you die. No one is going to stand between me and that fruit. You'll be okay. I swear to you that I'll make everything better. Trust me."

She continued to wipe her gun, even though it was already clean. Knuckles even thought these days she even fell asleep with her gun in her bed, dreaming about trying to get the fruit for him. Ever since he fell gravely ill she hasn't been right. Sometimes she seemed to stare off into space and ignore everything like the lunatics back at their asylums, locked away and chained to the walls. But he couldn't think of Rouge as a lunatic. He still loved her, but even he knew that once he died, she would be sent there to live the rest of her days and be chained and ridiculed by everyone on the outside. And that was a worse fate than his.

But he returned to bed. Rouge wouldn't say another word, just continuing to wipe her gun, checking to see if it aimed right, checking everything on it before she went on to Fairy's Tongue Woods.

_No one is going to stop me I must save Knuckles no one is going to stop me I must save Knuckles no one is going to stop me…_

And in her mania, she barely slept. She didn't want to see Knuckles' dead body in her dreams. She forced herself awake for many nights, in fear of the imagery and of the nightmarish world she knew her unconscious kept.

She packed her lunch. A lot of meats and cheeses, along with some nuts, to give her energy and to keep her mind awake. She even had a pot to make tea with, to keep her eyes open during the night. In this fight for the Dragonfly's Heart, these people would even kill you in your sleep. So no sleeping there too, even if she went a week with barely a wink.

_I will save you, Knuckles. Please don't die on me honey, I will bring you back to what we used to be._

She left a note on her door:

_My People,_

_I am afraid that I must leave my post as queen for a while, and there is a possibility that I might never return to reclaim my throne. I cannot talk about where I'm headed, but it's very important for me to go on this journey. I leave the throne for my good friend Ray until I return. If he finds me dead, then he shall be the new ruler, as I do not have anyone who can carry on my title._

_I am sorry, but maybe one day, I will return, and if I do, I will become a much better queen, and we will live in happier and more prosperous days._

_-Rouge_

And she headed to the forest, with the gun and knapsack in hand, along with a determined look on her face. No one saw her and no one stopped her.


	3. Chapter 3

There was a fairy tale by Hans Christian Handersen that would describe this boy perfectly.

He's a prince of the South Kingdom…or he used to be. His father, King Garnet, thought his very son, the once respectable Prince Sonic, was the murderer of Diana. He thought the boy wasn't right, and he's been acting strange for the longest time. He was once courteous to everyone in the kingdom. Now he doesn't even wish to speak to anyone, and if someone tried to talk to him, he would insult them and tell them to go away. Even his father was not spared from his attitude. And he grew angry and hateful for his own son, upon the news that the North Kingdom declared war for the revenge of Diana, and he thought it was no fault but his.

But he couldn't bring him to death in his kingdom. Even if he was cruel, he couldn't help but see who he really was on the inside, that brave, proud, golden-hearted boy that he happily called his son, his prince. He wondered if it all had to do with the death of the queen. He loved his mother dearly, and possibly changed to this cold, festering virus that he no longer wanted to call his son. He went in his room one night, feeling like tears were going to erupt from his eyes, and told him, "You are no longer a part of this kingdom. Get your things and get out of here. You are sentenced to banishment, and if you die out there, I will not recognize your body. You are nothing to me. You must leave."

Sonic displayed little emotions to this news. He was silent, packed all the food he could, took his sword and horse, and left without anyone seeing him.

The tale, in question, involves many mischievous sprites who decide to play a prank to the world: creating a mirror that shows the viewer the negative side, the evil of the world, and they cackled and chortled at how great this prank would be. They would take this mirror to the sun and everyone would know about the darkness the world sung, and they would no longer believe in the positivity and good it had to offer to them.

Until, that was, one sprite couldn't carry the mirror, and it slipped from their grasps, and it fell to the earth, shattering into many pieces, the mirror's glass then piercing a few people's hearts, and they no longer were kind and friendly to all their neighbors and friends. They were now spiteful and seemed to abhor everything, their heart bleeding black blood from the shard that was embedded inside. The reflection the shard had caused them to become cruel and cold, and maybe, just maybe, this was what happened to dear old Sonic. Maybe the shards got to his heart and caused him to view the world this way, and he no longer cared about anyone in his life. Not even his dead mother was mentioned in his mind. The only person he cared about, was himself.

He sheathed his sword and rode on his horse, Nanaka (he wasn't sure why he named this horse that name. Maybe all the happy memories of his childhood was gone from his heart too). He wasn't sure of where to go, but he thought he could only live in the wilderness now. He surely wouldn't have been accepted in the Northern Kingdom, as it was still rumored that he murdered Diana.

He knew many people called him many things lately. "Cruel, heartless, ass, rude"…but one of the things he knew about himself was that he was not a murderer. He didn't even know Diana, except she was the daughter of the king in the North. But she never really met her that night, and if he slit her throat he would've remembered it. But he had no reason to kill her. He was a prince, after all, he could literally have anything he wanted at the snap of his fingers back then. And he didn't even care much about the conflict between the North and South, so why would he murder her? To make a statement? But that wasn't like him, he thought. But he didn't recognize that his coldness wasn't like him either.

He watched as the sun slid down, creating a wave of scarlet light on the golden sky. He watched as the kingdom was starting to become darker as the sun's glow waned away, and he was casted off into the darkness. And even being directly in the sunset, watching it go down and having all the light burst in glorious colors, he felt nothing and only waited for the night.

He camped somewhere in the woods that night, eating only little of the food he had. He gave his horse oats too, but only enough for the night. He thought he had to make the food last on this trip before he could find a viable source of water, and if his horse died, he would only have to cut it open and roast any edible meats. He didn't care much for his horse now, but he thought he would have to make due. After all, he was in the wilderness now, and you had to do what you could to survive.

Although he was accustomed to living his life as a prince, he took advantage of the education his father gave him and he was actually quite good with the sword. He taught himself and trained with the sword, nearly every day, and it suddenly became an escape for him when he was annoyed with everyone in the world. He even did his best to respect his teacher so he would get more lessons and to become better, but when he was banished the only thing he truly cared about was no more sword training. He felt like his world, the only world he thought he could only know, was taken away from him, and he wondered if he could somehow hide in the East Kingdom, with all the blind snakes and lizards, and try to learn under them. Even if they were blind, their other senses were more in tune and specialized, and they were quite strong warriors that should never be underestimated. They didn't have to see you to kill you.

He wished his hands were clawed and scaly, so they could mistake him as one of their own.

As he thought of how he would ever get better with the sword again, he fell asleep, the crickets and owls lulling him.

It was the early morning when he awoke, the sun a misty silver as its tendrils reached across the land. The fog of the morning would've been a nice sight for some, but he thought only nothing and ate little, and gave his horse oats again before he set off deeper into the woods.

He navigated his horse through the woods, walking by it, eerily quiet except for the small crunch of leaves under the hooves and feet. He heard a few birds call, the jaylark and the mornsunbird, screeching through the silence. But he heard nothing else. But he was still cautious, as he knew fox-o-loxes were light-footed and knew how to hunt for prey. And with all this meat in his sack, he knew he would be a target for them.

Afternoon came. Still no sign of water. His tongue and mouth were parched, like he had a desert in his mouth. His horse was also notably growing tired and exhausted, likely from lack of water. He rested, ate little, fed his horse, and moved on.

The skies were getting dark by the time he moved onto the wet parts of the woods. His feet began to sink into the ground, and his horse was struggling to walk through the mud. It felt the mud becoming thicker, its hooves becoming so immersed that it felt it couldn't move any longer. It whinnied and snorted, trying to tell its master that there was nothing it could do to walk here. The mud was too steep, the swamp was getting closer, and it needed to head back, where the ground was solid.

There wasn't much he could do with the horse now he realized. He couldn't ride it into the swamp, especially with the few raindrops that fell on his body, able to tell it was going to rain. The only thing he could do for it to be of more use was to now…kill it. It was going to die out here in the forest anyways. It was too domesticated to live here. He knew if he snuck up on it and made a clean cut on the neck with his sword, the horse would die in mere moments. When he thought about it, no emotion ever came across his mind or face, no regret. It was no use to him now. He didn't want to carry the last memories of when he was a "good prince". The horse had to die.

And it did. He killed it, as its bloody carcass laid in the mud, mixing it to be a deep shade of brick mahogany. He only had enough room for two cuts of its meat.

And he left, like a sulking shadow, leaving after it killed its prey.

As he ventured more into the swamp, he started a fire and roasted the horse's meat, and when he bit into it he realized it tasted like shit and he would rather go back to his kingdom before he took another bite. But he ate all he could anyways, and he eventually reached the swamp inlands, reaching water. Dirty, swamp scummy water, and it tasted horrible, but he told himself that it was the only thing out there that would parch his thirst. He tried to control his drinking so his stomach wouldn't be full of nothing but disgusting horse meat and water that swamp dragons probably shit in, but the water made him sick, and he threw up and began to shake and had the chills, even if it was forehead sweating hot in the swamp.

He lay at the base of a tree, his eyes yearning to the silver sky that started to rain on him, his chills growing worse to the point where he nearly jumped out of his skin. He was feverish and delusional, as he thought that the clouds knew everything about him and had little men on them that watched his every move and wanted to see him suffer, before he took his last breath.

He knew he was going to die out here. His father won't recognize him anymore, he'll be forgotten and no one in the kingdom would speak his name again. No one. His father, his mother (who he suddenly thought was still alive), his sword teacher, even the other kingdoms would probably forget his name. Being a prince meant nothing to the world. Especially if you were accused murdering Rhianna or whatever her name was. You were thrown out here like nothing but garbage and now he was to be burned, leaving nothing but his body. He was a nobody, he summarized. A nobody snooty ass prince who thought was somebody. His past seemed to contain so many dreams, so many hopes, but it was all crushed that fateful day that Diana's blood was shed. He thought his father didn't care at all about the North Kingdom and what they accused. He thought he would do nothing but laugh it off. But he was nothing, nothing but worthless, to be sent out here in the wild to die like this, with his defective brain thinking of the silly men in the clouds, watching him die and laughing at how ironic his story seemed to be. Once a prince, now a dead carcass that was no more than shit.

He began to hallucinate. He saw a triad of colors, red, blue, and yellow, swarming and swallowing his world, suddenly transforming the colors of his world. Red sky, blue leaves, yellow rain pouring down on him. The rain felt like leaded oil paint, his blue body mixing in with the artist's smudge and making him a pea green, the leaves and sky then shading in and becoming a deep dark purple, a blood red violet that dripped from the leaves. He could hear the drips, playing in his head like a sharp sudden scream like a nail stabbed in his brain, as the blood gathered all around him, around his body and knees, and he gazed at a decapitated horse's head, staring right back at him with utter fear and regret, its mouth wide open to let out a howl of laughter that crept up his spine and rattled him till he felt his body give up and he was limp on the ground, yelling and shrilling in agony, feeling his blood coil and darken, as he thought he was suddenly the goddess' sacrifice, his body for the life of the forest.

His chest heaved and he shook as the goddess began to gleam at him with her emerald eyes, smiling playfully as if his suffering was amusing her.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice booming in his head, but polite.

His breath was struggling. It was like chains pinioning his lungs, as his pants became chronic, nearly choked, as he tried to say, "S-s-Sonic. P-P-Prince Sonic." He seemed to hiccup his name, his shaking becoming more rapid, like he was having a seizure.

"Who are you?" she repeated. "Where did you come from? Do you know about the North Kingdom? Are you a soldier in the South's armies?"

He felt his mind blacking out, overheating. He couldn't rationalize much thought in his skull. He now wished for death and he wondered why the goddess wouldn't let him die already. She seemed to be intrigued by it all, as she smiled and said again, "Who are you?"

"I…" He coughed, his lungs becoming voided of air as he managed to gasp his last words. "…don't…know…"

His eyes could only catch a fuzzy glimpse of something pink before he slipped into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

He snarled, just like this animal. He hated the guttural sound he made deep within him too, because it also reminded him of this animal. He hated all the animals in the forest. He hated them all. Disgusting little creatures, running on his land he knew many people could call their future homes. He wanted this land so much. He had all the ideas, his blueprints to his city, scurrying around in his head, and he wanted all these animals out of his sight. People shouldn't be denied jobs, opportunities, and new homes in his new city. These filthy vermin had to go, go, go!

He discovered this place, which he learned these animals called Neo Geo Forest, while he tried to find some free open space to build Metropolis, his city that he promised would fulfill everyone's dreams. And he will, when these germs, these little diseases on feet, will go away!

What a pathetic little rodent, he echoed in his mind. Look at it, so weak and frail and useless. It kept asking him if he could go back home. No, it couldn't. He committed a great sin: being on his land. And it was time for him to be punished, to suffer the consequences of simply being alive.

He pushed a button on the machine, this mouse not being the same once it rode the conveyor belt. It tried to escape, tried to move upwards, but it was futile, he said. You are simply a product now. You have no name. You have no home, no family, no life, no purpose. You belong to me, and only me, and you will feel no anger, no pity, no sorrow, no happiness, except you will only know the satisfaction of serving me. Stare at all the fragments of your life that you have now, even if this is a terrifying moment, because you disgusting creature, you will forget it, and you will no longer know of any pain.

The mouse screamed, but there was only one sudden flash of light in the machine, then silence.

He stared at the byproduct in awe. The mouse had feathers, and wide wings that were almost bigger than its entire body itself, golden fluff, a small beak, and slit eyes and talons now. Its tail, ears, and whiskers remained, but they became grossly enlarged, and this creature that knew no creator or god except this man could only look at him with hate and spite, knowing that he was successful. He was a monster now, a creature that had the DNA of two, becoming as wretched as this man himself, a chimera.

The first success of many, he thought. He might as well use their lives this way, to be like him, and to serve him. They were simply his little war toys, his green plastic army men and plastic tanks and grenades. Except they were anything but plastic. They were actual weapons, and they will serve him well.

He suffered for far too long, he also thought. So after all these years of suffering, he devoted himself to science, to creating myths and legends that he wanted people to believe, and have people regard him as much as the thunderbirds he created in his lab. They screeched at him, their white wings flapping and brewing a storm and thunder crackling as their eyes streaked with blinding jagged light, like white blazing fires that could not be tamed. They screeched and boomed, and they silenced when he gave them another mouse to him, another one he captured, the chimera's brother.

And it could only stare with disinterest as the thunderbirds tore him apart and swallowed his bits and pieces whole. He thought he could hear his name, but the cries and screams of agony drowned out his ears.

And as the birds were quieted by their meal, he went back to his typewriter, and continued to tap out his autobiography he planned to publish to all his little people.

_My name is Ivo Robotnik. I was born in 1962, with a loving mother and father who I do not wish to name. I was a simple lad, with so many hopes and dreams ahead of me, waiting for me to grab them and hold on. "Follow your dreams," they all say. And while I want all of you to fulfill your dreams, when I held mine, it was only bitter disappointment and despair, so it's like they only lied to me and only set me up to suffer._

_I was bullied. Terribly. They would beat me until my nose bled and rip me off all the money I had. And this continued onward, even to high school. They would call me many names I do not wish to repeat, and so many times I wished for revenge. I wanted the slimy punks to know what was good for them, and so many times, I wished I carried that gun and ended their lives quicker than light, quicker than the moment they realized they were alive as infants, and they would be trapped and crushed under the jaws of death._

He smiled at his writing, proud, as if he received a great prize. He continued to tap at the keys, while he kept the mutated creature in a separate cage, as he formulated another plan to create another monster he could scare those dimwit animals out of their minds.

And he didn't even know these animals, but yet he hated them, simply for being alive. He's a miserable man, you might think, the only things keeping him alive are his scientific creations and for everyone to pity him with his writings. He realized his heart was cold, and he didn't mind it all. Better than all the people who bullied him, said he would never achieve anything in his life, and getting rejected from Princeton for little reasons, maybe because he was "too eccentric". He wasn't eccentric. Or crazy, or insane or mad or a lunatic or the same man who probably killed your wife and bragged about it on national television in the court rooms smiling about all the details and things he used to torture her. No, he was a genius that no one understood and no one seemed to want to understand. And today, he would make everyone understand him, know that he was as influential as Einstein and Hawking and that he would make everyone gaze at him with awe, maybe even in fear for his great intelligence, and as he tapped on the keys, rat-a-tat-rat-tat-tat, he grinned and cackled in glee and even started to hum Beethoven's symphonies as he worked on his great work. He worked as much enthusiasm on his projects like when God created life the universe and everything. He told his people that there will be light, and it will be good.

He had no friends, and he didn't care. He wished for none. He only had one friend in this world, and he was dead. The symphonies played louder in his head, he tapped some more, as if he was conducting some beautiful music on the page, and the thunderbirds cut the air again with their wailings and the lightning cackled, but it was all part of his play, his orchestra that he was playing to people all over the world.

He captured a swamp dragon earlier in the afternoon, or as he called it, an "alligator", and he had so many ideas for it, oh so many plans! He was going to make it his greatest weapon, his great atom bomb to drop on these masses. His plan was going to become all clear, and these critters might as well pray to him when he came. He will conduct all their cries and screams, and make such a wonderful performance that his people will want him to play again and again, even give him a few roses and bouquets.

And eventually, his fervor and zest disappeared, and he was tired as he worked on his beautiful plans. He hated the idea of sleep, but if he wanted to be ready for his play, he had to rest. And he left all his playthings alone as he slept on his bed of golden silky sheets and post made of the very ivories of elephants. And you might as well say he dreamed of sugarplums, as if tomorrow was going to be Christmas morning for him.

And the thunderbirds rested, and the chimera could only look at the blood of his brother that stained the floor, and tears were shed as memories of home all came back to him, and he wanted to go home, but he was stuck in this war, and the only thing he knew what to do was to obey, like a simple wind-up toy.

The sun casted on him, tickling his eyes, and he awoke quite happily and fed the thunderbirds yet another mouse from the chimera's family, more of his flesh and blood being torn, and he ate breakfast and read the newspaper and laughed at how stupid people were and how idiotic his government was. If only they were like him. If only, he sighed.

The swamp dragon was now half-machine, half-beast, a great behemoth with cyber and metallic jaws and eyes that could see through a 60' mile radius and a tail that could go through steel. Surely this world would be cleared quickly. Thunderbirds, a robotic alligator, and a flying rodent that only knew of his master's greatness? But he knew it was always good to have reinforcements. He would need more creatures, more weapons, and he would win this war.

But he thought on how strange his dream was last night. He usually had simple dreams when he slept, but this one seemed to be so different, so surreal. It was as if his mind was trying to tell him something about this forest, about something that should be yet another mission for him to finish as well. And he thought on it, trying to decipher it like his DNA codes he always researched.

There was one dragonfly, sleek and red with black marbled spots, like fire. It had green glass eyes and wings of clear crystal, as it flew in this darkness and nestled on a plant he studied with interest.

It was a glistening ruby like the dragonfly, and it seemed to beat in a rhythm, pumping blood through the flower's veins, through the forest all around it. The blood was so rich that the forest became a little red, as all this life circulated and the dragonfly continued to stand, motionless, as it wanted to feel the forest's heart and to be at the center of this kiss of life it gave.

It was then that he saw this dragonfly change, with its legs growing and changing to become more humanlike, the eyes were dotted with pupils, great long flowing hair grew at its scalp and the body became flesh and had breasts. She was naked, but she danced along with the beat of the forest, happy to be alive and to see the forest with such mirth, as her hands reached out to the sky and she kissed the golden sun with her lips so full of color and love.

She told him to come dance with her, as this was a moment to appreciate. The forest to be as lively as her and the creatures to come see her movements in the sun's light, her hair flickering with many grasses and flowers and her smile giving warmth to everything.

And he said no.

And that was that. It all faded away into darkness. No dancing woman, no sun, no heart, no dragonfly, no forest. Nothing. He was blessed with pure darkness and death, and he did not scream, no. He only gave a wicked grin.

This heart, he thought. Was it at the center of the forest, and what did it meant if he plucked it? Would the forest die? Would he gain so much power over all this life? If his dreams tried to let him know about this particular point of interest, then maybe it was destiny for him to find it. Maybe it would be a part for his plan to be shaped together. Maybe he would try to get his war pigs to root out this particular heart, and to bring it back to him. It might be something he needed, and he couldn't let all those pests to get it before him. No, he would only let them suffer the wrath of his very myths and legends he created.

And he let them go, and he headed out to the woods, in search of this gem and for more sacrifices. His face turned a glaring white when the thunderbirds flapped above him, and it began to rain, drenching the forest, among their screams.


	5. Chapter 5

He looked lifeless, with his eyes completely shut like iron doors and his breathing slow, but weak. His face pallid and pale as a sheet, and when she touched his forehead it nearly scorched her. She knew if she kept him out in the rain like this, he would only get worse, and he would possibly die. And even if she didn't know him, having him die in front of her was something she would regret and remember for the rest of her life.

She looked for some kind of shelter, something that would shield them from the rain. She didn't know how to make one, being a sheltered princess all her life, something she knew she regretted now. She huddled close to him, trying to keep him warm through this cold, as she looked around her.

And when she found it, she knew she was lucky and the goddess blessed her with luck. There was a tree with very broad leaves, catching the rain with its great many green hands. If she kept him under those leaves, she could try to treat him without worrying about the rain making him worse.

But the real challenge was to get him over there. She had to admit it, she wasn't very strong. She couldn't lift someone with this body, and she wasn't even sure if she could keep his body above the swamp waters. She had servants lift all the heavy things for her, so she didn't know what it was like to strain yourself.

But still, she knew she had to try. She wasn't going to let this poor hedgehog die out here.

She put her arms under his and tried to heave him up in her arms. But she couldn't. He was too heavy, and her muscles hurt by trying to lift him anymore than she could. The best she could do was drag him, but it wasn't going to work with the swamp water. His chills would get worse. Maybe groupchompers would find him and have his body wither away to bones. No, she had to do better than this. He wasn't going to die. Not under her hands and eyes. She wasn't going to allow it.

She mustered everything she could, used all the muscles she had in her body, no matter how much they seemed to burn, as if this hedgehog's body was fire. Her one arm lifted his head and the other lifted his legs, cradling him close to her.

And the sharp pain shot through her, but as if she had a sudden charge of energy, she dashed across the swamp waters while her head guarded the hedgehog from the freezing rain, and even if her dress became saturated with filthy water again and she also felt frigid from the cloud's onslaught, she reached the tree in a matter of seconds, taking care to gently lower him to the ground, keeping his head elevated until she rested her legs Indian style and his head was on her lap.

This was much better, she surmised. It was still cold, but she could feel how much of a difference it made without the hard pelting rain on her. The broad leaf's shadow covered them, making them seem like dark silhouettes, with her green eyes scintillating in the daylight.

And she couldn't think of anything else to do. She wanted him to wake up and know that he was now being cared for, to know that he was still alive, enough for her to try to revive him from his sickness. She began to slowly stroke his head, feeling his fur and quills, still wet and moist, but it felt soft for her hands to feel. She even scratched him around his ears, and she saw his eyes slowly open, his emerald pupils that gazed at her with confusion and anxiety.

"Why are you touching me? Who are you? I said get your dirty hands off of me you wench!" he growled fiercely, as he attempted to push her away from his body. But he realized that he was too weak, still sick and feverish, but he hated to see himself in this position, to be cooed and stroked like a common pet. "I'm not a baby, get your hands off of me!"

She didn't listen to him. She assumed he was mad and delirious from his fever. She continued to soothe and stroke him, as she thought of something she could do to make him feel better. She thought he looked a little famished, as if he hadn't eaten a good meal in a long time. He probably needed food, something that would help ease his fever.

She remembered when she was a child, her mother would make her soup whenever she was sick. There was always something comforting about eating soup whenever you were ill with some kind of cold or fever, and she thought after she was done eating it, she would feel a little better, and in the morning, her fever was nearly gone. She knew she had to boil some water in a pot she brought with her, add some of the meats she had that were still good, maybe some cheese, and try to find some herbs around here. Then she began to curse herself again for having the good life. She didn't even know how to start a fire, or even knew what kind of herbs her mother used, or if they were even here in this swamp!

But she looked at him again. Even if he seemed annoyed with her touching him, she thought he was cute and handsome. He must've had some kind of good life back at wherever kingdom he came from, she assumed the South. She remembered that he muttered something about being a prince, and she wondered if it was all true, or he made it up because his mind was fuzzy and delusional. But she knew whether he was a prince or not, she had to help him, and even if her knowledge on these things was too limited, she would try her best.

She cushioned the hedgehog's head with a pile of leaves as she went back out in the rain, searching for anything that looked like some sort of herb she could use for the soup. Many of the plants looked about to be too stringy, or ones she could faintly remember her mother telling her that it was poisonous. She shivered, as if the rain was beginning to frost her, examining each of the plants she found, only to be disappointed that she could hear her mother's voice in her head that it wouldn't work.

She then memorized about some of the plants near the water in the swamp. One of them was a watercress, and she knew that this was one of the plants her mother used while cooking, saying it was a nice herb to use in some dishes. And she found some as she searched around the edges, their leaves shooting through the dirt to reach the rain. She yanked them off the ground, wiping the mud off her dress, while she found some stones and she dipped her pot in the water, gathering it.

The blue hedgehog still glared at her warily as she returned, cursing at her and raving that if he wasn't so sick he would leave her behind and get out of this goddess forsaken swamp. His ranting seemed to distract her as she kept telling him to hush while she attempted to make a fire. She gathered all these twigs, dried them the best she could, and she tried to rub two sticks together to start a spark that would eventually turn to a flame, but she had no such luck. She wondered how people could even pull this off, even when some of them were wet. She couldn't help but curse a little too as she kept rubbing the sticks, no spark even emitting from them.

It was then that she heard the hedgehog again, yelling at her.

"Are you stupid or something? Do you even know how to start a fire?"

"I'm trying my best, so quit yelling at me! You're not helping, you know," she harshly replied back, vexed that yet another man like her father was pushing her around.

But it was suddenly, as if it was some sort of miracle, that the hedgehog began to move, coming towards her and grabbing the sticks.

"I'll show you how to do this right, so listen. You just hold the stick straight in your hands and start rubbing it really fast, like this."

The stick began to twist around in his palms, as it spun so quickly that a small flare erupted, and it consumed the other twigs, a small fire reaching for the pot and holding it gingerly in its dazzling orange hands.

"That's how you do it. Geez, you act like you never lived out in the woods before in your life. Are you a princess or something?"

"Well…" she uttered. "I actually am. I'm a princess of the Northern kingdom, Princess Amy Rose. Who are you?"

_Damn it! _he shouted inside his head. _If she finds out I was accused of killing her sister, she's going to leave me out here like this and I'm as good as dead. I have to make up a name or something…_

"So who are you?" she asked again, innocently.

"I'm just nothing but a commoner, named…" He suddenly thought of all the random popular people he knew in history. "Reginald the Second. I mined back in the South, but I left the kingdom to find a place that would pay me more for my work. Maybe the North, maybe the West…" he trailed off.

"But you do know that if you leave your kingdom, you can't come back, ever again? My father wanted me to marry someone I knew I didn't love, so I gave up being a princess and now I'm banished and I can't ever go back. I miss having the simple life, but I'm not going to listen to my father! I don't want him to think he could push me around!"

And he thought her story was familiar, but he said nothing. "I never liked the South Kingdom anyways. That King Garnet has the head of an ass if you know what I mean."

She watched as the pot began to boil, as she put in the meats and cheeses and watercress in it, along with a few stones, and began to stir it thoroughly. The soup was a creamy white, with a few green spots from the watercress and some of the meat chunks floating around. She thought it looked similar to the soup her mother used to make when she was sick, and she considered this as yet another success she accomplished today. She moved the spoon in front of Sonic's face, as he scowled at her cooking.

"You want me to eat _this? _I'll vomit this vomit, lady! I can't even imagine putting that in my…" The spoon forced its way into his mouth, as he was silenced by the taste. As he swallowed it, he realized it didn't taste too bad. Better than the horse meat he had to eat a while ago. In fact, it was a little similar to some of the soup he ate back at his kingdom. He wasn't going to admit she did a good job cooking, however, as he began to slurp his soup in silence.

Amy ate too, but she let Sonic eat her creation and have a simple meal of the remaining meat and cheese she had. She thought it was pathetic that within two days her sack was empty, but it meant that she would have to teach herself to hunt to eat and survive here. And maybe this Reginald would help her, as he carried a sword around his body. Maybe he knew how to capture an animal and gut it and cook it, as much as the thought sickened her a little. Maybe she was going to be all right here, even if Reginald was a little rude to her, but as she looked at him more closely, she could tell that he had a little respect for her. Maybe because she was a princess, or maybe he thought she was kind of pretty. Whatever the case was, she was glad she found him, as he looked to be a great help to her.

As the pot was emptied and scoured by the blue hedgehog, he was lying back at his pillow of leaves, staring at the great leaf that was above him and listening intently on the pitter patter of the rain that fell on it. He could see the rain was getting stronger, hearing the cries of thunder in the distance, and even a small waterfall was streaming down it, and Amy went under it and drank, her thirst quenched and she was glad she found clean enough water, even if her dress kept getting worse ever since she came here.

Even if he admitted the rain was calming him a little, he felt he couldn't sleep. The thunder kept waking him up, booming at him to stay awake as he also heard something what sounded like an eagle's cry, and a rapid flapping of wings. He thought it was a little strange that there were still birds flying in this weather, but he stopped thinking of this probability as Amy began to pet him again. Even if he glanced at her with a look telling her to stop, she continued as she inquired him, "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

"Yes, but you treating me like a child isn't going to help…" He was shushed by her finger to his lips.

"Do you want me to sing you a lullaby? Something to get you to sleep?"

And even if he detested this idea, he suddenly felt something strange in his heart. It felt as if it…lightened up, a little lamp going off that brightened the contours, like he was feeling this "love" thing that people talked about, something his father talked about when he met his mother. And he was curious to feel it some more, as he said, "I would like to hear you sing. Sing with all your might, Amy."

She tried to think of a song that she heard, then she remembered the lullaby her mother would sing her when she and her sister were little ones, and they were scared and crying and they didn't want to go back to sleep. It was a Northern Kingdom nursery rhyme she knew. She gathered all the air in her lungs, and she serenaded him, her voice crystal clear, and Sonic thought he would admit in his head that it sounded a lot like the voice of the sirens'.

_I see the moon's silver gaze as it grins_

_And I wonder if it wants to play aga'n_

_I see the sun's golden flames as if I am its kin_

_And I wonder if it wants to play with its twin_

_The sky, so violet and blue, as they twirl and sing_

_As we hear their rile'n and woos, and we show the world its musical ring_

_And we watch the diamond bird shower the night with its wings_

_Oh, is life a wonderful thing!_

Sonic never heard of this song before. It was so strange to him, and he thought it was…alluring, in its own way, and he wished he heard songs like that when he was a child, when his mother was still alive. But as she sang and stroked his head, he felt like a child again, with his mother right beside him, telling him all these stories of how the sun and moon came into place in the sky, and he was lulled to sleep, as he watched Amy smiling back at him that comforted him a little.

He thought his heart would shut again when he woke up, but this feeling of love…it was good while it lasted, and he even thought of kissing this princess gently, but his heart was closed again, and while he drifted to sleep he was cold and unfeeling again.

Amy watched the rain drench the earth, when she saw the sky burst into pure white light. A tree from far off was struck by lightning, turning ashy, black as the night, and lit up like a match. The flames were quieted and doused by the rain, however, before the fire could spread to the rest of the forest and swamp.

The orbs at the end of the tree didn't glow as brightly anymore, only a faint reflection of blue and red that looked to be more like pink. But the tree still stood there among the rain, still standing even if it was black and a little bruised, and she thought for a moment that it was actually beautiful.


	6. Chapter 6

The early morning's thick fog was still hanging in the air when she woke up, hearing the cries of the birds and crickets resonating. She saw the land had moist soil, the trees dripping with raindrops on her face as she observed the forest. It rained last night, but she managed to sleep through it. She wasn't sure how, especially with her wide ears that could nearly hear anything, but maybe she was exhausted when she traveled through this forest. She felt tired as she rubbed her eyes, and knew it was a good time to make a fire, find some water, and boil a pot full of tea. Where would I be without it? she thought to herself. _I have to keep myself alert here. One simple mistake could leave me dead here. Now's not the time to make those mistakes._

She lankily searched around the forest for a stream or some other source of water. The leaves crunched under her feet, and she could see some of the trees were vivacious in their light, as violet ribbons were passing through one, the glistening yellow orbs swaying as the wind whistled between the branches. Now that she knew it, she never saw how beautiful the forest near her truly was until now. She felt too committed to her kingdom to even appreciate the simple things in her life. In fact, she hasn't stepped foot in these woods ever since she was a small girl. She knew it was many years ago, since her father died.

Her father was a kind ruler as well; there was no doubt about it. He listened closely to everyone's problems and thought hard on the solutions. People remarked that her father was also intelligent, and that he passed that onto his daughter. He was a white bat as well, with those silver moon eyes that searched within your soul whenever you spoke to him. He wore thick spectacles, so large that it seemed to make his eyes bigger, and the first thing you would notice when you saw him were certainly those eyes. She ended up with her mother's eyes however, and she died shortly after she turned about three years old, also from an illness that her doctors couldn't understand.

Both her mother and father died from a disease. And Knuckles was close to dying from one as well. She heard of the disease passing to the others in the kingdom, but many of her civilians seemed to be immune, including her. It just seemed the people she loved and cared about the most ended up with this sickness, and soon died. She would never get their last days out of her head. They were paralyzed, so much that their mouths couldn't even move. They couldn't even tell her that they loved her with their own voice. Her mother was illiterate, but her father wrote her a message that she had to take care of the kingdom now that he was going to die. And that he loved her very much, and couldn't wish for a lovelier, more beautiful daughter such as herself.

And when he died, she felt so alone in the world. All these people looked up at her with sympathy and compassion, but she couldn't help but feel they could never understand. They didn't know what it was like to have your whole world torn asunder and then taken away from you in a confusing instant. She was only a young teen when she had to take control of the kingdom. She couldn't hide herself away from this world, but to give orders and solve all these problems. She felt she couldn't deal with this, having such a big ordeal thrust upon her, but she didn't want to disappoint her father. Maybe when she died, hopefully of withering from old age, she would find her father and mother again, and they could tell her that they were proud of her for being strong and being rational and calm when she ruled the kingdom. It was what kept her going, but she knew if Knuckles died from this same illness, she was going to stop, dead in her tracks, and she wasn't sure if she would be able to function anymore.

She met Knuckles in the first years she ruled the kingdom. At the time, he was actually a commander in their armies, and even if she hated war and felt there was barely a need for it, she couldn't help but be attracted to him. He felt his job was a little boring, as the West Kingdom rarely had a need to use their armies, except when the East decided to strike again in their once or twice a year raids that usually ended futilely. But he didn't much like his job anyways. He succeeded his father from controlling the armies, as he was much too weak now in his old age. She remembered him as being so vivacious, so infectious with his energy. They actually romanced for several years before they decided to finally marry late last year. If it wasn't for that illness, he would've probably made a good king, she realized. He took these situations with a cool, level-headed approach, much like her.

But right when her love deepened for him, he suddenly caught a cold. It lasted for several days, but Knuckles was quiet about it. He may have asked for extra tea that day, but nothing serious. She tried to calm herself down that this was the same with her mother and father. It began as a minor cold, until it slowly got worse, like a slow-moving venom.

"Don't worry dear. It doesn't mean it's going to happen to me. Worrying about it will do no good for you. Maybe getting some rest will calm you down."

"But…you know I can't take this lightly. This is exactly what happened to both my parents. They had this illness that the doctors barely knew anything about. It spreads to some of the people in this kingdom, and even if the doctors get new cases about it, they still don't know anything. Why can't I worry? For your sake? You might've got this illness, Knuckles. And…I can't let another person I love die on me like this." She curled her fingers into his fists. But even if she felt this warmth that Knuckles was emanating, she sobbed. She imagined herself with that deep penetrating loneliness again when both her parents died. That feeling that no one cared about you, that perpetual coldness she felt around the world, that everything was lost in this deep black chasm that jutted through her world like a bleeding scar. She imagined herself falling through it as time went by, in this bottomless pit, and she was in so deep that no one could hear her scream, even the forest gods couldn't hear her pleas for mercy.

A month later, he grew sick, and she rushed him to the doctors right away. And they gave her that grim fate, completely with a serious tone and face. _I'm afraid there isn't…much I can do about your husband, Mistress Rouge. I'm afraid that…in a month, he'll be completely paralyzed, maybe even dead. I'm sorry. _And she wanted to scream at this doctor, that she wanted him to actually do something about this illness, to try and research all kinds of medicines, find new studies on this mysterious disease, _something_. But even if they knew the cure, it was past the stage for slow recovery or any recovery at all. He was going to die.

She watched as her pot began to boil, the sage clear liquid giving off such a heat that her hands felt sweaty when she reached out to it. She dipped her ladle, pouring it into her cup, and tried to calm herself down and to not think of such things anymore for a while. Tea time was a relaxing time for her. She had to think about the beauty of the forest for a while.

The fog was lifting a little, as the sun was a nice reddish tangerine color, the skies reminding her of golden jewelry. The rays reached out to the forest, the trees absorbing some of this light, and they radiated more light, the colors becoming more vivid. It was a beautiful sight, as the rays casted off her makeshift tent and made it shine with last night's rain that gathered near it.

She watched as a lone spider crawled across it, as if it was also examining the world in all its glory. She wasn't afraid of these kinds of spiders. They called them slender legs, and they were harmless. She decided to imagine herself as this spider as it scaled towards the top. Having so many eyes to see the world with, so many of the light's rays reaching out to you, to scan along the horizon, while you had these eight legs that were touching this tent. Feeling the broad leaf she took from this tent, so smooth, still fuzzy and fresh like it was never plucked. To see this shining sun, with the fog hitting you with moisture, feeling alive to see and feel this nature, to hear the birds humming their early morning songs in the air like a chorus. She closed her eyes and meditated, analyzing everything she felt, and this tea she was tasting. She wanted to keep this world at bay for a while, to go somewhere else. To be serenaded by the bird's song and to witness the creation of this world she formed in her head.

She imagined the beating heart of this forest. In the middle of the forest, was this fruit that promised her a new lease on life, to spend many happy days with her husband. It looked much like an actual heart, and it was alive, as it continued to thump along with hers, in rhythmic harmony. She soon glanced at this firefly that flit to it, with its red and black markings that looked to her like many scars and bruises, its crystalline wings becoming completely still for a moment. It stood on this heart, feeling its beating, its red markings seeming to bloom along with the heart, and the light was getting thicker, stronger, until her mind couldn't gaze at this dazzling light anymore.

It was then, as she tried to shut off this dragonfly, that a wicked transformation has taken place, as these wings became white flickering thunderbolts that reminded her of fire, as it grew a sharp, thin beak that screamed at her, and within a flash, this whole world she thought of was gone, as it was burned down and absorbed by darkness.

She woke from her daze, quickly grabbing her gun, aiming it at the source of the sound. She heard a scream that sounded almost human, _too human, _as this white bird that crackled across the sky like lightning was rapidly flying towards her. As it drew in closer, she could see its eyes, its eyes that were literally very much like fire, a fire that foretold a great burning, a burning that would consume this whole forest in its madness, and she was going to be swallowed along with everything and everyone else in this whole world she lived in. These eyes seemed to carry some great sadness along with the fires, something that killed these birds souls a long time ago, and it no longer cared about its own life when it would eat this whole forest alive.

She gripped her gun tightly, even if her palms were beginning to sweat at seeing such a monstrous thing that called itself a bird, and she fired the trigger, a great ignition of fire that heated the power inside it, and she fell a few feet as it struck the bird, giving off a horrifying inhumane scream that made her nearly shut off her ears, and it fell to the earth. The whitish glow began to dissipate, and the flames from its eyes faded away like dull cinders.

She examined the bird closely, picking it up by its tail. There was no mistaking it now. It had the looks of a regular mornsun bird, with its blue, violet streaked feathers that gashed at the tips. It was surely dead, as she saw a deep black mark where the gun blasted through, and she couldn't feel a heartbeat on it or feeling any other movement of any kind within it.

But this thing she saw…it wasn't a harmless mornsun bird. It was some kind of hideous creature that embodied madness and deep sorrow. The wings, the unmistakable glance in its eyes she saw before it died…it couldn't be a mornsun bird. Was she possibly hallucinating things? Was she becoming mad, much like this creature? Was she losing her very grip on reality, when she kept thinking of all the people in her life that died, and very close to death? She feared insanity. It was something unlike she ever experienced, to have your mind unable to distinguish what is real and what is fantasy, what is right and what is wrong, and as she thought about Knuckles and her father and her mother, she literally could feel her mind ripping slowly from its seams, thread by thread, and to lose her mind was something she couldn't deal with or even fathom. She would rather die than to experience a fire in her brain that would never truly go out, that she would experience thousands of needles in her brain that would slowly make her brain bleed everything out until she went out, like a candle in the night.

She didn't want to think about it anymore. She plucked and broiled the bird, and proceeded to have it as her breakfast. There was no use wasting it when it was a perfectly good kill.

She began to pack up her things and proceed further in the woods. She was far to getting to her destination, but she was still alive and well, which was a good sign. She still had plenty of ammo and food to last for several days if she continued to be wise about it. If they ran out, she could use her knife and set traps to catch prey here. It may have been a long time since she's been in the forest, but when her father took her there to learn how to survive, she was taught well, and she hasn't forgot his lessons.

She looked onward, catching onto something that she thought that her eyes were playing tricks on her again, but when she blinked, the image still didn't disappear, as it seemed to be still-framed in her eyes. There was a lone black silhouette hidden by this fog, lurching like some wretched creature, pulling all its weight to go through this forest. It seemed to be limping, or carrying some kind of walking stick as it struggled to walk through. All she could think was this was either some injured soldier from the North or South kingdoms trying to survive out here , or an old lady who was lost or confused. Still, she knew she couldn't put her defenses down in an area like this. She heard of specters, evil ghosts with tormented souls, using forms that seemed so harmless to people, then they tricked them into going inside their lairs or gazing deeply into their glowing white orbs in their head, the person who was carelessly letting their guard down having their soul taken away from them, and they were forever their slaves. Many children and naïve people fell for this trick she heard, and she wasn't going to be one of them.

She unsheathed her knife still, preparing herself. She heard it was nothing but a myth, but there were many things in this forest that was still shrouded in mystery, and she couldn't be too skeptical.

And she ran to this black specter, its shadow scattering across this forest as the sun's light seemed to run from this thing, as if evil oozed from its very form.


	7. Chapter 7

The rain drenched him as he walked into the woods, with the white flaming thunderbirds above his head. He was carrying a metallic cage that he heaved as he walked, the raindrops flowing down his raincoat.

He looked at his radar. He saw a few green dots, looking dormant at the moment, as the thunder clashed in the sky and the birds screamed and broke the sky as if it was glass. There were two in one area and another a few miles away. But they were becoming close. They were about to meet each other. He knew there was going to be competition for the heart. He expected to see more, but he didn't want more. Three animals were enough for him.

How wretched those creatures were. Living in disgusting castles and homes as if they were human. They belonged to crawl around and mewl like stupid sheep. What were they doing building monarchies and talking of politics?

Man was already a disgusting animal. They didn't need more.

He grunted, as he tried to levy the cage into the swamp. He was proud of this. This was his very own creation, something powerful enough to destroy this entire forest and almost everyone in it. Something that had its body run by a clock, each second and minute and hour making it more powerful as steam would billow from its nose. He knew even with this heavy rain the flames inside it won't be bothered. They were strong flames, like the ones on the thunderbird's wings. They screeched in an ear-splitting cry, but it was like music to his ears. Terror was his symphony, after all. He loved to conduct it.

He heard growling from the cage, a growl that he thought he heard when there was a hurricane near his home a long time ago. A sharp twisted sound that only the most evil of God's creations could make, except that he made this creature, as if he really was God himself. And sometimes he thought that couldn't be further than the truth.

With this creation, this forest would be his. The animals would be dead, he would find the beating heart of the forest, and let its blood run through his fingers, and crush it, and this forest would be no more. And his city, his dream, would start breathing, and everything would be good. He could forget about the ridicule he suffered for too long. People would worship him, like a god, and he would be widely praised and people would finally recognize his genius.

_Isn't that further than the truth? _he thought in his egg-shaped head.

He laid the cage down, and then slowly began to open it, letting the creature come out. It took it some ushering, but even when the skies were dark, he could see this creature in all its glory, its metallic jaws being reflected and its red eyes glowing alive as it crawled down into the water, seeking its prey. Its tail was made of metal too, and could possibly crush anything that dared to toy with it, have its bones grounded down to nothing but mere white dust. There was a red shining light on its back, surrounded by many wires that led down to its mandibles. It was its life support, and every time a little scratch came to its scales it would instantly recover and become even stronger. It was his new chimera, a mechanized alligator that was nearly impenetrable, and he thought none of these animals, even with their guns and organized armies, could stop it.

As the rain dripped on him, the leaves swaying in the cries of the wind, he had to think about his wretched past, how much he dealt before he became this great genius able to breathe life into these creatures. It still stunned him on why people would even victimize him. He felt alone back then, as if he couldn't even reach to a single human being when he was a child. He just stiffened up and was silent throughout those years, until he found a woman who helped him turn those horrid things around. Even if there were still people who hated him, he still had a little amount of hope, and that was his great talents that he was endowed by this woman.

"Think fast, stupid!"

But he couldn't as a fist suddenly met his face, making his nose gush a fountain of blood.

He began to cry. His head hurt so much and his nose and body ached. All these bullies wanted was his money, as they knew his mother and father were quite wealthy. They took his money in large fists that looked like silly putty (but hurt him like running headfirst into a metallic wall), and they ran off. He was very slow, so there was no use running after them. He would never catch up to them.

His mother lovingly gave him extra money to get a few toys while he was away from school. His mother spoiled him, but even if his father told her not to she did anyway. But unlike most children he saw, he appreciated it. He loved his mother very much, and to see her money being taken away from these punks was one of the saddest sights he ever saw, and he couldn't help but hide his face and bawl. And he would have to tell his mother that those no good bullies pushed him around again. But even if he loved his mother, her advice never helped. He felt himself terrorized at these bullies' very whim, and although he would try many methods to avoid them, they always found him and took his money or teased him or just tried to make him cry just for their own amusement.

And why? He has done nothing to them! He never even hurt them! They just simply wanted to pick on him because they thought he looked stupid with his egg-shaped body. His father passed this onto him, and now he was beginning to curse him, because if he looked like a normal boy, maybe he wouldn't go through with this all the time. Maybe he could go to school and be happy with his good grades and his teacher's praise like normal children.

He never saw himself as particularly bright, however. He just did what his teachers told him. He always thought he just had an average intelligence. It didn't take great intelligence just to ace a test. He just studied and remembered. But when they were done with that lesson, he would forget all about it. He liked learning, and he always wished he was like his grandpa, who he thought was a genius. He invented many things and was pretty well-to-do like his parents. However, he was committed to an asylum when his granddaughter died. He never knew her name, however. He just knew this caused him so much anguish that he went insane.

And he thought he would go insane too, with all these punks making him cry and be in pain every day.

He actually wished he was committed. Maybe then no one would bully him anymore. They would say "don't mess with him, he's crazy," and that would be the end of that. He actually thought his grandfather was lucky.

But he was pretty sane he thought. So he only breathed a long sigh and headed home. His nose stopped bleeding, and now it became red and crusty. He knew he would get adults stopping him and asking him what happened, but he felt hopeless. They would never help him. They didn't know what was going on in his life. So he only said that he fell and his nose started bleeding. And they would walk away after that, without saying another word. But he had many nosebleeds. They probably just assumed he was clumsy, especially with his egg-shaped body. He was like Humpty Dumpty.

But he ran into someone he thought actually cared to listen, and that was when a great change took place.

As he walked, staring into the ground and noticing the many dust people kicked up when they ambled on the sidewalk and the many ant hills that built up in the summer, he bumped into something, but he realized it was a someone, as his nose didn't get hurt and didn't start rushing blood again.

That someone was a woman, wearing a black shawl over her face and a black dress, wearing a strange necklace. It was a purple gem that had many colors swirl inside it, as if there was some life force alive in it. He couldn't see the woman's hair, but he saw that her eyes were a deep jade green that he couldn't stop staring into, and she looked very young, probably in her mid-20s.

"I'm sorry I bumped into you ma'am. I'll watch where I'm going," he said meekly, preparing to walk away.

"Why is your nose in such a state, young man? Did you get hurt? What happened to you? Such an unfortunate little boy to get hurt so much."

Did he meet this woman before? How did she know that it was normal for his nose to bleed and for his body to be in pain so much?

"Oh, I just fell down and my nose started bleeding. It's no big deal. I'm sorry ma'am…"

"Did your mother teach you to not lie, young man? I know why you seem to be hurt so much. I know why you cry so much. Maybe we can discuss this, if you want, in my house. I can make you a good cup of tea and I can try to help you."

Did she have psychic powers? She knew the truth, and even knew he cried so much at school. And now she was inviting him to her place? He knew his mother taught him to not talk to strangers, but even if she wore all black she looked like a nice lady, one who wouldn't cause him any harm at all. And she was simply inviting him over for tea. Nothing real huge. So he let her take his hand and walk him over to her place, his heart calm and he thought he even could smile a little, as a stranger actually knew what he was suffering through, and cared.

Her house…if you can call it that he assumed, looked strange to him. It actually looked more like a tool shed, with many strange figures and jars with small body parts all around him. The home was also completely black, like her dress and shawl, and had a large symbol in the front, and the door was just simply a sheet of fabric. He actually began to think that maybe she was a Wiccan or a Satan worshipper and thought about turning away and walking back to his home, but the lady was still kind to him. It would be rude to be invited and then suddenly leave her. And those green eyes constantly had him in some kind of trance, and he sensed that those eyes he kept gaping at wouldn't harm him at all.

There were many reptilian organs around him. Salamander legs, alligator claws, toad eyes, but even if he thought it was disgusting, he still didn't turn away from her eyes. And she poured a hot cup of tea for him, and sat down with him on the small table, interested.

"Why are you so hurt, young man? What causes your heart to hurt so much every time it beats? Is there something troubling you, something that you wish to escape and to resume your life like a normal boy?"

"Well…there's these bullies…and they constantly hurt me every time I come home from school. They constantly take my money and call me names I think are too bad for you to hear. And…I wished there was something I could do to those bullies, so they can leave me alone. I hate them."

A smile curled up on her lips, looking amused. "Well young man, I can do something for you, if you like. While I cannot wish harm on those boys because that is beyond my jurisdiction, I can…give you a gift that can help you later in your years. As if you can't tell already young man, I am a powerful witch that can grant wishes, and I want you to have your wish fulfilled."

"A witch? Really?" he asked, amazed. "I thought they didn't exist! What kind of wish can you grant me ma'am? Will it…help against the bullies?"

"Yes, I am a witch, and yes, we do exist, although our numbers decrease a little each year. We are quite rare around this city nowadays, but we are still around. And although I will not grant you a wish such as you wish that the bullies are dead, because it is against the law for me to take away someone's life, I can give you some sort of talent, skill, or something else that will help you, but of course, I cannot give this away for free. My magic doesn't work like that. You have to give me something in return."

"And…what would that be?"

She lifted her head, and once again he was dazed by those eyes. "You have to give me your heart. Witches can't do this kind of thing for free. We live on people's hearts, so we can live. And with enough life coming from those hearts, we can last for generations. If you promise for me to take your heart, then I will grant you that gift, and maybe it can help against your pain, and I can promise you that things will get better in your coming years. So is it a deal? What kind of gift do you wish for, young man?"

His heart. He thought it hurt too much from these bullies and strangers and teachers that constantly don't care for him and only wish for him to continue to writhe away like a worm in the blazing sun. He thought there wasn't much use in his kindness. Almost everyone didn't treat him the same. And maybe it was worth it. Whatever gift he could wish for? And he thought he knew exactly what he wanted.

"So what do you wish for?" she repeated.

"I…" He cupped his hands together around the half-drank tea. "I wished that I was a genius, like my grandfather. I wished my teachers would see my intelligence and respect me even more. I wished I could invent many things and people would remember me forever for my clever words and the things I made and the ideas I gave. Yes, that is what I wish for. Other than my parents, I respect my grandpa, but I don't see him very often. He was locked away in an asylum, but I think without a heart, I won't go insane. I won't mourn anyone, and I will live my life with my great intelligence, and be remembered, as if I was an immortal god."

She gave a small laugh. "Such wise choice of words, young man. I like the way you think. Of course I can grant that wish for you. Now just hold still as I work my magic. I will need complete silence to do this operation, so make sure you don't make a single sound, is that clear?"

He nodded.

She stretched out her fingers on the table, seeing the black paint on each of them that shined under the waning light. They seemed to glow as she made them rise slowly, as little sparks of colors, reds blues and purples, began to emit from her fingertips, and suddenly, the world began to swirl around him.

The world was spinning around so fast that even when he thought on this memory he couldn't remember exactly what he saw. He knew he saw a dark figure rising from the woman, with a white painted mask that grinned unceasingly at him with black marbled eyes that never blinked, and he felt something pulling from his chest, as the wires began to unhook and there was blood dripping as his heart was in this shadowy figure's hands, still beating as if it was still connected to him. The figure's hands were as long and sharp as the woman's, as it clenched around this heart with long tendrils of darkness and shoved the heart inside its shaded body, becoming absorbed by its lengthy silhouetted body, his heart no longer beating, and it was now quiet and dead.

And he felt his brain growing, all the knowledge beginning to fill his head, as he began to instantly learn about so many facts and figures and people and places and things and cities and their history and numbers and letters and languages, so much that he thought his head would suddenly explode in a bloody mess. But he dealt with the pain as he clenched his head, sweating and grunting, and the shadowy figure slowly faded away as the light overwhelmed it and was hidden inside the woman, and her gem flared in such colors, almost in a spectrum he thought he never saw before.

The woman let her fingers with their black paint on the nails be still now, as the boy let the flow of knowledge run in his brain, and then everything was still again. Quiet.

"Now young man," she began. "Tell me the letters that stand for gold in the elemental table."

He didn't even need to think for this one. "A-U."

"Good. What other words can you say that mean 'good'?"

"Acceptable, ace, admirable, choice, agreeable, gnarly, exceptional, prime, excellent, commendable…"

"Okay, that's good enough," she said. "What is 162 multiplied by 124?"

He didn't even put one thought into this question. "20,088."

"Very good!" Her smile was wide like a gaping cut from a knife, and she clapped her hands loudly, delighted. "As you grow, you will gain more knowledge, so don't worry about thinking you don't have enough, young man. I'm very sure you will be on top of your classes for a very long time. And you will be as known as your grandfather, I'm sure of that too. I'm glad we had this deal and discussion young man, but I'm afraid I can only grant one wish per person. So enjoy your gift, and maybe in the coming years we will meet again. Just to see how you're doing with this wish, no? But remember that I don't have a return policy. Is that clear young man?"

He nodded, feeling so much weight from his head.

"Good. You can leave and return home now. I'm sure your mother is worried sick about you. Maybe you can let her know about your newfound knowledge. I will meet you again one day Ivo, and I hope you suffer no longer."

He knew how she knew his name. She was also a fortune teller who just knew how to get into people's minds and dig up them up.

He didn't remember much after that. Ever since he lost his heart he didn't remember much of the rest of his childhood. His mother and father still loved him even if he seemed cold and bitter towards most of the human race, but even when he memorized their warmth he felt nothing towards them. The only emotion he really felt now was frustration on how so many people didn't recognize and respected him, even if he had this incredible intelligence that was just as great as his grandfather, and he wondered if this was what made him insane other than the loss of that granddaughter whose name escaped him at the moment, that no one thought he was a genius. Maybe they only thought of him as nothing but a lunatic who continued to write the name "Maria" over and over again on note cards, and fill his entire room full of them and speak only in some kind of incomprehensible language that only he understood.

But yet, he was glad he loved no one. And he was glad that no one loved him anymore.

He watched the alligator storm through the swamp, looking for those three targets. Whoever they were, they were disgusting animals that deserved to be torn to shreds by this chimera, and they didn't deserve his pity.

He continued to walk deeper into the woods. It was after he took a few steps and the chimera was completely gone, consumed by the darkness, that he heard a loud blast. It sounded as if it came from a gun, and a vehement shriek was hollowed out through the trees, coming deep within the woods.


	8. Chapter 8

He woke up, to the smell of freshly watered grass with dew now blanketing the ground, and the sound of raindrops dripping from the giant leaf, puddles being formed underneath. As he groggily searched around his surroundings, he saw that the girl who somehow tagged along with him, Amy Rose, was still sleeping with her matted grass cushioning her head. As he looked at her, he couldn't help but be disgusted by her. She was a woman. An overbearing wench. She couldn't have really taken care of him. Women were only good for one thing, and that was reproducing. Men were here to do the rest of the jobs that women couldn't do. They were weak, conniving, and dangerous to the males who were attracted to their ugliness. Behind all that makeup and red lipstick was a thief that was willing to break you down, chew you up, eat you alive, and ruin the meaning to your life. They were the thief of your heart, except whenever you found it, it was broken as if that thief was a careless and cruel child who thought it was a toy.

Only dirty rotten pigs with makeup and lipstick.

But yet…he knew that last night, she managed to save his life. He remembered how sick he was yesterday, and how close he was to the verge of death. He couldn't exactly remember what she did, but whatever it was, it saved him, and even if he had an arctic heart, he recognized that someone who was willing to save your life even if they didn't completely knew who you were was worth respecting. And defending.

He listened to the sounds of the forest. Everything seemed to be normal, unlike the screams he heard when he fell asleep. He wasn't sure where they came from, but they sounded as if they weren't human. Or hedgehog. And birds flying in the harsh rain and thunder. The birds sounded normal, tweeting a simple rhythm for all the forest to listen to. No screams at all coming from them.

He heard of his mother, back when she was alive, telling him the tales of thunderbirds, a mystic creature that seems to have only lived in the imaginations of some animals and men. But they couldn't be real. Such a thing was impossible. And Sonic didn't, and didn't want to, believe in the impossible.

He looked at her again. He felt nothing towards her. She was just someone who got lucky with her caretaking and managed to save his life. As if his life really was worth saving. He was a nobody now, as low as a woman. What happens to the Prince when he loses his castle, his white steed, and his father's recognition? He might as well not be called a Prince. People could barely tell if he really was. Even Amy believed him when he said he was simply but a commoner who worked in the mines. She doesn't know very much about the South Kingdom, but she was a Northerner, so of course she didn't. There was no mines in the South Kingdom. Only in the East and West. The South was mostly known for the fishing markets. They were right next to a large ocean where many fish thrived. The leather business was also booming in the South. But they mostly get their gold, silver, and gems from the West. And the North, somehow, confided in the East to get their metals and gems.

But yet, he had a dream last night. A wonderful dream. It made him realize, for once, how much he missed being that charming and sweet boy again who was called a prince. He was happy, loved, and from that dream, he could actually feel those feelings, and he wondered if the gods were taunting him.

In the dream, there was a beautiful girl who sang him a song that was so rich in its melody and so sweet that he wondered if it was his own mother singing it, her beautiful lullabies she would croon when he was merely a baby. And when he was with that girl, he felt his heart lighten up. It turned from black to red, and then to gold, and then it sang a song of its own, coursing through his body and giving meaning to his life again.

And as he remembered of that dream fondly, he now could feel a feeling that he hasn't felt in a long time: hunger. Craving. It was euphoria. A drug that he wanted to swallow whole, drink everything like the sweetest and purest wine, and be drunk with joy and dance to the moonlight and hear the nocturne's song. Even thinking of that dream, he began to salivate at that feeling of love. Oh, the things he would do to no longer be numb. He could feel himself becoming the big bad wolf with the large eyes and teeth, willing to devour a little girl's grandmother and then devour her too. Oh, the sweet taste of love! How grand, how wonderful, was that honey that blessed him when it dripped to his tongue and lips! It was such an intoxicating experience, to experience the love he felt with his mother all over again, except with a woman he would usually glance at afar, but that girl must exist! He needed her now! He had to consume her, to taste how sweet her blood will be once he's chewing her corpse!

His arm was quivering rapidly. His fingers were becoming long tendrils that stretched and became long, curved nails that seemed to have a mind of its own. It wanted to touch Amy, caress her, feel her, then cut her, slit her throat, drink her blood, and continue to do the same for so many women, to lap up that love again. Blood came from the heart, so it must contain that wine, and he will feel normal again. He will be able to feel. For a while. Until he had to feed again.

But this Amy, even if he had no use for her, somehow saved his life, and he knew this wasn't how you thanked anyone for rescuing him even if she didn't know his name. And the North Kingdom would surely kill him and drink _his _blood if he killed her, or as the king thinks, murdering his second daughter. He surely would've thought the cruelest ways to torture him. Put him in the Iron Maiden, chop his head off, anything that he deemed was proper revenge for the murder of his daughters. And even if he didn't care if he died, he couldn't imagine ending his life in the most painful way possible. He would've liked it in battle, or just quick and not violent and bloody. No one was going to bother to collect his corpse anyways. His father would've made sure to that.

He gripped his other arm, the monstrous arm that was turning into a beast they never told you about in tales because they were simply too horrid to even have the name of that creature fall from the tips of your tongue. It was like a curse. And the arm was becoming harder, more dense, shining in the morning light as he realized they were turning into scales as hard as diamonds, the kind you would hear about in those tales about the knight slaying the dragons. He glanced at the puddle near him, his eyes transforming into reptilian slits that he knew belonged to those of the East Kingdom, the slits that were like a chasm that only foretold of madness and hate, and he might as well have gained a forked tongue also, breathing in the hot air and sensing his next victim, nearly tasting of the blood and love they so contained in their bag of bones and organs.

The arm undulated and the blood through it pulsed as if it was a life of its own. It seemed to cringe and swipe at the air, feeling the first few breaths of life, reveling in its birth and wanting to feel more and even tear away from this hedgehog. The nails were becoming bigger, long streaks of silver that glowed in the shadows, his pupils becoming dilated and shrinking and growing, and he wanted so much to keep quiet and not wake up the wench but he was now feeling this incredible pain and he screamed as he wanted to this arm to stop with the torture and would even scratch it until it was a bloody limb on the forest floor, but the scales were too hard, and he was met with a new feeling he haven't felt for the longest time since he was a boy: fear. And damn could he smell it right now with his forked tongue.

"Reginald? _Reginald!" _she cried along with him, seeing the metamorphosis that was taking place, turning Sonic into this demonic creature that lived in the eighth layer of hell, as if he made a contract with the devil to give away his soul. She didn't know what to do. She never experienced this before and thought this only existed in fables to bad children, and she didn't think Sonic was a bad child, but she couldn't think of anything her mother would do, not even what her father would do except probably executing him, but she couldn't do that, no. She was too weak, too powerless, and she could only clutch him tightly and cry into his fur, the tears moistening him of what remained of his mammal appearance, and she clutched him tighter, tighter, tighter, until he nearly couldn't breathe.

"I'm sorry Reginald! I'm so sorry! I can't do anything like this right! I wished I could help you so much! Forest Goddess, please stop this! Please do something! He's suffered enough, please forgive him! Please make his pain go away!"

The Forest Goddess smirked curtly with her red lips. Maybe she would grant Amy's wish. Just this once. And she snapped her fingers.

Sonic's breathing were long, hallowed breaths as the arm was slowing down, no longer moving of its own accord, and the pain began to recede. The arm seemed to fall flat as of it had no bones inside it at all, and his tongue became rounder and was no longer split and his eyes were no longer thin slits. But his arm remained the same. Blue scales with those long claws that could easily slice through a man's throat. But at least it was no longer convulsing and full of incredible pain.

"Reginald…" Amy said, to get his attention. He lifted it, examining it, seeing that it was the same claw that belonged to dragons, something that you could only see in the East Kingdom. And he wondered if he had to soon live there for the rest of his life and be completely blind like them. He looked at her, trying not to show her that he was scared, but Amy could sense it. She didn't need a forked tongue to know someone was afraid.

"Reginald, what…what happened? Why are you suddenly turning into…this monster? It's a miracle you're alive. If…something didn't stop it, you probably would've fully gone through a transformation."

He held his head with his dragon hand. "I don't know. But you didn't help at all, you damn wench. You're just like the typical woman, aren't you?"

She knew that Reginald was only angry because of the aftershock of what happened, but she still couldn't stand this mentality. "Maybe. Maybe I am like the typical woman, but as you hear me say that word you can hear the word 'man' as well, meaning I'm not a pig or a wench. I'm a hedgehog, and while we're together you better treat me like one, because I'm doing the same to you."

"But I'm no longer a hedgehog," he replied flatly. "I'm a monster now. I've been a monster for so long that my father doesn't even recognize me anymore. I think this is just what's going to happen, my dear sweet princess of mine, I'm going to turn into so much like a monster that even you with your blindness won't even recognize me. And don't act like I care about you or anything like that because if it wasn't for the fact you were a princess and I owe you for saving my life, I wouldn't even tell you this, but it would be wise for you to leave me in this forest to die. If I become this beast, I'll most likely kill you, and I can't have your father think the South Kingdom is filled with thieves and murderers. You're better off by yourself, or maybe you can convince the West to take care of you, because I don't think your prissiness is going to survive in this swamp. Not even soldiers from the North and South of the highest caliber can survive a week here. Get far away from me as you possibly can wench, because I'm just going to get it over with and kill myself. It's alright, there won't be a funeral service. My father, who pushes me to work so hard at those mines everyday, said he doesn't give a damn about me. Just leave me here to die. Not like miners who can't come back to the South Kingdom and most likely can't even go to the West have anything going for them anyways."

"No Reginald…" She felt herself tearing up again. She liked him. She didn't care that he was becoming a monster. She knew there was a way to help him, and she couldn't give up on him. And she couldn't imagine living the rest of her life dealing with the fact that the hedgehog she once saved died by his own hands. "No Reginald, I can't let you do that. I saved your life, and I will continue to save your life. I swear there's something I can do about your transformation, there must be something! I can't let you die! Not after I helped you!"

He was silent, taking in everything Amy said. Amy sounded so irritating with her emotional tirade and it was so grating to his ears, but he thought it would be silly to have the girl save his life and leave him here dead. She was obviously too kind to convince her such a thing, and there was probably nothing he could do. "If you want to be in these swamplands with me while I go through with this, here's something that you need to do for me if you don't want me to take this sword and plunge it deep into my chest."

She listened in carefully, nodding.

"When I become this monster…I would have to give you the duty to kill me with my own sword. My scales might be hard for the sword to go through my body, but if you want to understand me fully, I want you to cut through my chest and pull out my heart and if you want, you can show it to me, but I mostly want to show it to you. I cannot speak of what happened to my heart, but maybe if you killed me, you would understand. And maybe that will be the only way you can understand."

"Why can't you speak about what happened to your heart? I want to know what happened. Is it too painful to talk about?"

"No." He shifted his gaze to the puddles near the leaf. "I cannot simply talk about because I just can't. I cannot even speak her name. You'll only understand if you killed me."

"Who is she? Who is this girl who hurt you?"

"I said I can't talk about it, because I can't!" he growled. "You'll never understand wench, until that day comes when I fully become a monster. I don't know if you have ever much experience fighting monsters, but you better tear out my heart when I'm a monster because if the South Kingdom gets destroyed because of me and everyone will blame me for the rest of their lives I can't die knowing that will happen. You have to swear to me that you'll do this, no matter how weak you are. You have to really promise me damn it!"

He was serious. His face told her that. But she could feel her heart thumping as she thought of this promise. She couldn't deal with fighting monsters. She couldn't deal with killing him. But letting him commit suicide was not an option. "I promise."

"You swear on the dragonfly's heart that you'll tear my heart out?"

The dragonfly's heart swear. The ultimate promise you absolutely couldn't break, or else you might as well be sent to Hell when you broke it. Marriage was sworn by the dragonfly's heart, and she was glad she ran away from the kingdom, because she knew she would've broke it being with a man she didn't love. "I swear on the dragonfly's heart Reginald. If you become a monster I will kill you and tear your heart out."

"And you better be good with this promise wench. You know like everyone you can't break the dragonfly's heart promise. You have to do this. You swore it."

"I know. I will do it for your sake Reginald. For your sake."

Although she knew he didn't show many emotions (except for anger), she could recognize that he felt relieved, as if that arctic heart was warming up a little by her promise.

Something happened to his heart. She knew now. She thought maybe a piece of glass that caused him to see the evils of the world sliced it up long ago and was making it bleed with so many cuts.

She didn't have a mission when she left the kingdom. She couldn't go anywhere. She knew the West Kingdom wouldn't accept her, and she certainly would have no luck in the East and South, and definitely not in the human lands. But now she felt determined to have this hedgehog's heart be showered with light, to become a lantern for them to see through the darkness in this situation. Maybe if he grew to love her they could live in the forest and become their own king and queen in their own kingdom, and they could make crowns out of sticks and twigs and have meals of berries and rabbits everyday and celebrate their own holidays and make their own laws and live in a makeshift house that would be their palace even if it's small and dirty.

And she thought that she would like that. She would like that more than anything.

As Sonic and her walked through the swamp in search of their next meal, she thought she could see some metal floating in the swamp water, and she had the hallucination that it was smiling at her with crooked teeth. Maybe she was becoming sick too, but she swore too that she would take care of herself as well as Reginald.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I noticed some parts of this story is quite similar to my other story, Crystal Heart, and I apologize for that. That was actually unintentional.**

**I hope you enjoy the new chapter despite that.**

She raised her gun, carefully loading it with the gunpowder as she approached this lurking creature, its shadows stretching onto the horizon and on the trunks of the trees. It seemed to crawl around this Earth like some lizard from the East Kingdom, blind and groveling at the air and ground. Maybe _it was _from the East Kingdom. She knew that everyone in the East Kingdom were blind, due to living with only the darkness as their only friends and allies. And she thought as she clutched the gun near her chest, she couldn't afford to die. Her husband was depending on her, and she wasn't going to have herself killed by someone who only wanted the Dragonfly's Heart for some greedy reason that she could never understand. To just eat it to cure their failing back? Selfish, selfish fools. They could never wish to understand the hell she dreamt, thought, experienced every day. They would only understand if they saw the nightmares her dreams made her envision, the worms and parasites crawling through her husband's brain and eyes. They were selfish. Selfish, selfish fools who didn't know any better.

"Who are you? If you don't tell me who you are, I'm going to shoot! I am Mistress Rouge from the West Kingdom, and I order you to tell me who are you now!" Her gun was shaking, quivering and the sound of bullets rattling inside it, her finger close to squeezing the trigger. But she rubbed that trigger. She couldn't afford to die right here and now. She knew the East Kingdom were completely ruthless about any life they find that wasn't scaly, blind, and had flickering tongues like them. They would immediately kill her only because she was from the West and she had fur.

The black creature groaned tiredly, shaking and looking away. As the sun casted its gaze, she could see that its face was wrinkled, like a dry cracked earth, and it didn't have the slit eyes of a reptile. Its eyes were silver moons, and she could see moles dotting across it. This creature wasn't a creature she surmised. It was a person. An old lady who was crossing the forest and swamp by herself. She lowered the gun, now unafraid. What could an old lady do to her, especially one that looked so weak and frail as this one? But what was she doing going through this swamp? It was dangerous, especially for the elderly to cross. Not even the North and South soldiers could cross safely without worry over diseases and swamp dragons devouring them.

"I'm sorry miss, I'm afraid we have never met," the old lady coughed, as the cold air was getting to her. Her hands were bony and shriveled as she latched onto her cane, her eyes reflected by the sun's light as she faced the bat with an oddly placed smile.

"My name is Elise Blackhawk. I have lived in this forest for years, about a hundred years to be exact, and I am taking my daily walk and examining the many creatures that fly and crawl through this land every day. You're from the West Kingdom? You must be so lucky to have the forest so close to you. The sounds of the woods are like heaven to my ears. I don't think I can fully go through a day without it."

A hundred year old woman. She thought of how strange it was for this elder to be walking here, especially when there were people like her who would be crossing and most likely killing anyone that got in her way when they were searching for the Dragonfly's Heart. But as she analyzed her name and the shape of her cane (the head was a carved shape of a dragon with crooked fangs and glowing yellow gems that gleamed in the light), she realized that she heard of these people like her before. They were witches. Heart and Dream Witches. While they don't intentionally cause harm to people, they were still wicked and evil, as they would grant someone their dreams with the simple exchange of their heart. And they would grow younger once they devoured that person's heart, and the heartless person would become cold and hateful as the only thing that filled their heart was a completely black and cold steel ball that was literally their ball and chain. Sure, their wish would be granted, but at what price just to have their joy and happiness and love be taken away from them? This witch didn't seem to have many customers, however. She seemed like she was close to kicking the bucket because she barely had any people willing to give her their happiness just for a pitiful dream.

"You're a witch," she said. "I know it. Your name that ends with the name of an animal, your cane, and the fact that you're a hundred years old. You seem like you're close to death, and unfortunately, I'm not going to give you my heart. I need it too much before I'll let you eat it."

"Ah, you figured it out then, hm? I know a little bit about you, Mistress Rouge. I know about your sick husband who only has months to live. Are you willing to exchange that ol' heart of yours if I could use my magic to give him his life again? To make him as healthy as you? Maybe even better? I understand why you're so sad sweetie…"

"I said no," she firmly stated. "If I gave you my heart, I wouldn't be able to love my husband. I wouldn't care about him. I wouldn't be able to give him everything he needed. He is my life and soul, and my heart belongs to him, not you. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way."

"Ah, the ol' love tirade, huh?" She laughed a giggle that sounded closely like she was choking. She really wasn't going to live much longer, especially that Rouge wasn't willing to give her the only thing that kept her living. "I loved somebody too. It was a few years ago when I met him, and I was completely enamored with him. But because of him, I am old and crooked and rusted, but I can't stay mad at him. I can't stay mad at him now because of what I've done to him. You're lucky Mistress, because if the Counsel of Witches ever find out that I took your heart without their consent they would kill me right then and there. It's not easy being a Heart and Dream Witch, and I feel my time for that position is going to be done very soon. But once you're chosen by the Counsel of Witches, there's nothing you can do but fill their position, or else your heart will be devoured too. It's an unfair trade, but you should never underestimate the Counsel. They're almost just as powerful as the Forest Goddess."

As much as she wanted to continue her journey, the witch was interesting her. She never knew much about the history of these witches, or why they chose certain people, and after all, as long as she didn't give her heart to her, she was completely harmless. She couldn't do anything with the Counsel constantly watching these witches with their omniscient eyes.

"How are you chosen to be a witch? Does the Counsel just choose a particular group of humans to do their bidding? Why are the Counsel doing this anyways? They can't be playing in humans' lives by making them do something as evil as preying on the hearts of innocent people and creatures."

"I don't remember the day I was chosen. But they told me they look at each human infant born every day and they somehow know if they have the potential to become a witch. The Counsel believe they can interfere in the lives of humans because they are the enemies of the forest, and the Counsel believe themselves to be the allies of the Forest Goddess, as she commanded them to create the forest with their own threads and silk. With each heart a witch eats, the forest's soil grows richer, and it's such an unfortunate trade they must do to keep it alive. In fact, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be searching for the Dragonfly's Heart. That is made from the hearts of many as well. You can say it's the Forest Goddess' gift for us to do her bidding, but I'm not really interested in it the slightest. I'm sure the Counsel will want me to live out my punishment anyways, so I must die and let my corpse enrich the soil and the life of the forest, and let its own heart beat."

"And who was the man you said you loved that made the Counsel decide you were breaking their rules?" she asked. "Why does the Counsel believe there must be rules to follow? Can't they just let the witches eat any heart they want just to let the forest live?"

"Oh no my child. The Counsel made those rules and regulations because they cannot let us act upon our own freewill, or else no one in this world will have a heart, and there won't be any hearts in the world for this forest to take. Therefore, the person must be willing to give away their heart for an exchange of our magic and services. If we act upon our freewill, the Counsel punishes us severely, and that is why I am close to death at this very moment. I used to been such a beautiful witch many years ago, but I had to break the rules." She sighed.

"Anyways, it wasn't too long ago. The person I loved…well, even if I was human, that person was, believe it or not, a creature. I admired him to such a great extent that I began to crave his heart. He was a prince of some kingdom in this forest that I'm not exactly sure of, but I'm sure it was either the North or South…"

And she told her her story.

She was told from her peers that she was possibly the most beautiful witch they've ever seen. She had the perfect figure, the perfect set of blue eyes, the perfect set of auburn locks of hair, and although she was about 80 years old at this moment of time, she looked to be about in her 20s. She knew she was beautiful, and she was proud and believed she was very fortunate.

She lived in a makeshift hut in Neo Geo Forest, as the Counsel told her most of the exchanges she had to make had to be in this forest, animal or human. Her small home was only covered by a thin black sheet, but it was also a beautiful day today, where the wind wouldn't bother her home at all. And she decided on this day that she would take a stroll through the forest, and maybe go inside one of the kingdoms, maybe eat a heart or two on the way to keep herself young. She would go inside one of the kingdoms and play as a fortune teller. Although she was a witch, she never was any good at predicting people's futures. It wasn't one of her powers. But she was good at making up lies. She would tell them that a horrible event in their life was going to happen in a few years, an event that were surely cost their happiness and life, and when she mentions she can ensure their life would be healthy and full of wealth, she would say the only thing they needed to give her was their heart.

They would never get a single disease, not even a cold, while they lived their long and rich-filled life. However, without their heart, they wouldn't even enjoy it, and some would even begin to think of it as a curse. She had a few traders that committed suicide because they couldn't stand being so numbed, hateful, and depressed in their long lives. However, she didn't feel much remorse. It was common for her customers to die this way. It was the life of a witch. And it would be suffering if she didn't enjoy being this young and gorgeous.

She was able to cross the entire forest and swamplands without even becoming slightly fatigued. She was powerful. The witches among her said that too. She was possibly one of the most powerful witches in her league, second to the Counsel, of course. In fact, she thought she could even be accepted into the Counsel. As she told this story to Rouge, she knew back then these were good times. Everyone seemed to respect her and when she went back to the human world once in a while she could possibly have a husband who would be able to support her. They could live near the forest and she could continue doing her fortunetelling once in a while and consuming the hearts of the foolish, and she could outlive many handsome husbands and live a very happy and prosperous life. She was sure she had about 1,000 years ahead of her, and she would witness the many risings and downfalls of civilization, both in the forest and the human world.

Until that is, she met that damn prince. She ended up becoming the foolish one when she met _him._

To this day, she forgot his name. She didn't even want to remember his damned name. He ruined her life, and she became this raggedy old woman and lost everything. If only she didn't went to the North or South that day and maybe she would still be beautiful and have a beautiful husband along with her.

As she traversed the town, wearing her black hood over herself so the animals would know that she was only a mere gypsy who didn't exactly belong in the human cities, she saw _him _riding his horse into the center of the town, with so many ladies giggling and saying how attractive he looked and how strong and brave he was and how good of a horseback rider he was. This prince was quite the ladies man she remembered. And he was. She even fell for him.

However, she still remembered what he looked like. A blue hedgehog with green eyes that looked so joyful when she locked into him that day. He was possibly the happiest animal she ever met that day. Or ever. And it showed. He flirted with the woman and joked around with everyone that walked by him, and while she knew these kingdom's street walkers were usually miserable, they actually laughed along with him and even stopped to chat. And she realized that this kingdom wasn't so miserable those years ago. It was actually quite as happy as him, because they had a happy king and prince who did everything they can to make their townspeople happy. And laughter was common through the alleyways that even the sick and wretched laughed, and it wasn't with madness. They were genuinely overjoyed.

And his heart…it was gold and radiant, almost just as bright as the Earth's sun. And she could feel it. And to this day, she still felt its radiance and taste as she pried out his heart. And she remembered how much she wanted it.

She licked her lips.

"Sir, you must come over to my house for tea sometime, I'm sure I can entertain you and maybe we could play a good game of chess. What do you think? You want to come over?" Laughter. And it rang all over the town. So many of these people had good hearts she just _had _to consume. And she licked her lips again.

"I'm sorry my fair lass, but I have to talk to the North Kingdom right away. My father says that it's important to keep good tabs on them. But I'll be sure to come over some other time, cutie." A wink, and the women went wild. She remembered this was back when the North and South were still split, but they signed another cease-fire and tried to be peaceful and reasonable. And she was sure that this prince kept them in good spirits. He seemed to keep that last thread between the kingdoms intact. He may have acted more like a jester than a prince, but laughter was sometimes the best thing that kept men going.

As he rode his horse away from the ladies, he seemed to stop when his eyes came into contact with hers. She wasn't sure why he began to take such a great interest in her, as gypsies who dwelled in the commons of the kingdom were often ignored and even stoned by the others. But he seemed…entranced by her eyes. He probably thought they were the loveliest shade of blue he ever saw, their beauty unrivalled by these women around him. He even stopped his horse, pulling on his reins.

"Hello madam. I know I must be bothering you, but…I looked at your eyes and you…interested me. What's your name? You look like a gypsy, but you look…stunning…" The last word that came out of his mouth seemed to dribble off his tongue, soft and hushed. She knew she would have to ignore him. It would've been a better idea. But her heart said otherwise. It began to light up too.

"My name is Elise. I travel from kingdom to kingdom, giving people their fortunes and telling them a little about their pasts and futures. I'm afraid it's the only thing I can really do. It's what pays for my food and helps me barricade my home when it storms. I'm afraid I didn't catch your name. You seem a little…well-dressed than all the men here. Are you a prince, by chance?"

He nodded. His garments were extravagant compared to the others in the commons, but she thought they looked like nice on him. He had a royal red suit and cape that were the exact rich hue of blood, embroidered with the kingdom's gems that sparkled in the bright sunlight. His gloves even had a large glowing ruby on his palms.

"I'm Prince Sonic of the South Kingdom, at your service dear Elise." He took a bow. And she remembered actually smiling. "I know I have a date with the North Kingdom right now, but…since I'm going to the forest anyways, maybe you can tell me a little bit about my future. Is your fortunetelling accurate at all?"

"Quite accurate," she remarked. "I'm not sure why you even want to come with me. I'm nothing but just a poor gypsy who can't even pay for a nice meal of bread and clean water. I'm surprised even a prince such as yourself is even talking to me. I assure you you don't need your future told. I'm sure your path is laid out for you. You seem like a fair prince, one who wants to make his people happy, and I feel good about that. But…it's really not a good time to go to my home. It…"

She was beginning to grow hungry. Her mouth was salivating. She could feel herself licking her lips again. She couldn't have it though. It was just like a cookie jar that was out of her reach, and she couldn't have it at all. But yet she ached, and wanted to taste it, wanted it to melt in her mouth and it would be the greatest tasting thing she ever had. At that moment.

"Don't worry about it, fair Elise! I would be able to pay you a nice sum for your telling! We can't be there for too long I'm afraid, but I'll be able to pay you extra if you keep it to a minimum of ten minutes perhaps?" He smiled, a smiled that made her heart and stomach ache. And with those eyes that she could tell that he was trying to say _I pity you. Please take my money and find yourself a good meal for a few days. You're too beautiful to suffer like this._

She knew she absolutely couldn't refuse his offer. There was nothing she could say or do that would make him get away from her and just talk to the North's king. He was invested in her now. And she was too. She had to admit that she thought he was beautiful too.

And now she had to make him suffer for it.

"My home is at the far end of the woods and close to the entrance of the North's swamp. I will show you the way, and I'll try to keep it short and sweet for you." She pet the horse's muzzle, and she began to walk to the end of the South's gate. There was no use getting rid of him. At this moment, he was hers and she was his.

They talked while they traversed the forest. To this day she wasn't sure what they were talking about, but he was able to charm her and make her laugh like with the other people in the kingdom. And her heart rang too, and she thought he could shine it and make it gold too. And when she learned more about this prince, she felt…different around him. She felt like she could be with him forever and not care on how many days have gone by. They could be walking in this forest infinitely and she would still be happy like she was right now. She realized she liked him. She liked him a lot. And she felt she never felt that way before, especially with any animal she met in these kingdoms. All she cared about was getting their hearts. But…his seemed too precious to take. Something that should only be admired afar, and never touched or toyed with.

But she knew, as she licked her lips again, that she had to have it. It was a prize she must win in this conflicting battle her mind was undertaking.

It was suddenly that Sonic stopped her with a sound of "whoooooaaaaa!", pulling on his horse's reins. She wondered what was making him stalling here, but when she was about to walk again, he said, "Don't move another step my fair Elise".

The swamp was beginning here. Another step would've plunged her feet into the dank and gray waters. It wasn't much of a problem for her really. She walked through this area of the swamp every time she had to go back to her home. She always suffered her clothes becoming damp and filthy, but she didn't mind cleaning them when she got back. But she knew Sonic's horse had to stay behind. It couldn't get through this swamp.

"I'm afraid my horse Nanaka will have to stop right here. The swamp isn't the right terrain for a horse." He stepped off his horse's saddle, and gave his sweet Nanakaa kiss on the muzzle, petting her that he will be back. He seemed to love his horse very much too.

It was then that she could feel herself being lifted into the air. She was close to protesting to be put down and she could walk through this swamp herself…but the prince was set on having her clothes and shoes preserved, and rather, it would be the prince's shoes and clothes that she knew must be worth a fortune in his kingdom that would get ruined, not her simple black shoes and her simple black hood. He carried her to the hut, the hut that only had a black blanket for a roof and held aloft with sticks.

And as he placed her back on the land, his clothes now reeking and wet, he bowed curtly, and gave her a small kiss on her hand.

Her heart ached again. She wanted to cry. Because she could smell his heart now. And it smelled so enticing. And she licked her lips again.

They went inside, as the wind turned rough, angry, and was close to carrying her black blanket away. She could tell it was going to rain soon. As the cloth gave way for a few seconds, she could see the clouds were beginning to turn stone gray and dead.

She was feeling guilty. She knew she had to feel this way. She took away many people's hearts. She never felt this way towards anyone before. She couldn't take away his heart. It was unfair to her. She never wanted to be a witch now. Once he saw all these dead animals in their jars he was probably going to run from her. But he didn't. He even examined them and was curious and asked her what these animals were with no disgust in his voice. This hut was the ugliest place in the world to her. She hated it. But even though the prince was in this hideous world she had to live in, he was holding her hand, squeezing it tight, smiling, and finding beauty in all these ugly things.

And she realized she loved him.

She couldn't do this.

She had to tell him. Give him a chance to escape before she became ugly too.

"Prince Sonic…" He was still holding onto her hand, but she had to let go, much to his dismay. She turned to face him, to see the sadness in her gorgeous azure eyes, but he held onto her hands again, getting closer, closer, closer.

"I'm afraid I have to tell you the truth of who I am. I'm not a simple gypsy that just gives people their fortunes. I am actually a wicked hag, and this beauty you're seeing is just an illusion. I am a Hearts and Dreams Witch, and if you don't stop making me love you then I'm going to tear out your heart and eat it. I hope you realize that. Your life is going to change drastically. You will lose all your friends, you will no longer be a prince and become lonely, miserable, and depressed, and you will probably end your life by suicide. And I don't want that to happen to you. You must leave now. Leave while you still have your heart. You are a good hedgehog Sonic. You don't deserve to have these bad things happen to you."

He didn't run. He stayed. He held onto her hands. Still. And he held on even tighter, and he was still getting closer.

"I've heard of people like you. You eat people's hearts in exchange to use your magic to grant someone's dreams. And these hearts power you and make you younger and let you live nearly forever. But I know you're not evil Elise. I can tell. You actually don't want to be like this. You're actually a very sweet woman, and you're capable of loving another. I like you Elise. I like you a lot. I don't know what exactly it was that drawn me to you but…" He paused, his voice becoming hushed again. "But I think I have some kind of intuition about some people. I can get close to people like you…"

And he stepped closer. So close, she could feel his golden heart beating through his chest. _Thump. Thump. Thump._

"…And I can tell what you are by the music your heart makes. Everyone's hearts make different music, and yours appealed to me. And…there was only one other person whose heart I liked to listen to. But I'm afraid I can never meet her. She is in a different world, and you're the only thing close to her that I can have."

He stepped in closer. And he gave her a kiss on the lips, and he began to hold onto her tightly, hearing the music her heart made.

"You're beautiful Elise. Your heart makes a symphony that I want to hear for the rest of my life. If you are a Hearts and Dreams Witch Elise, I want you to fulfill a dream for me…I want you to be here with me. Forever. I want to forever be in love with you. And I can have you live in my castle, and we can be king and queen and all the pieces of this chess game will never fight again. We can just be the King and Queen of Hearts, and live forever in peace and love. Will you fulfill that dream my fair Elise? Will you be my queen?"

She was utterly shocked. That wish would be impossible for her to fulfill. The Counsel wouldn't allow it. She hated herself for what she was. She was beautiful, powerful, and ageless. But she knew right at this moment, right when she met this prince, that was all going to end.

"No…" she breathed out.

"Hm?" He looked at her, confused.

"No…I can't do that Sonic. I absolutely can't do that. That's against the rules! I can't do a damn thing that's against the rules! You know that Sonic! I know that! Once you give away your heart, you will never feel love! There's no loophole in this! The Counsel will make sure of that!"

"Elise…" He nuzzled her. She pushed him away.

"No! No, I can't do this Sonic! You better get away from me! Go back and live your life as a prince! I don't want to ruin everything! You may never know of my heart's song or that other girl's whoever she is, but love isn't always worth it! Just go back home and live your life!"

"Love _is too worth it _Elise! And I feel like if I leave I will never hear that beautiful song again! I want you to take my heart, and I will make you beautiful! I will sacrifice my heart so you can live a happy life! That is my dream, Elise! Take my heart for the exchange of you having a happy life!"

"You're trying to loophole again! The Counsel made sure this won't happen either! Being a witch is only suffering and I will never have a good life!" She licked her lips. She could feel the magic working her way through its fingertips. _No, this wasn't happening. No, she couldn't do this. Get away Sonic, get away!_

"Take it, Elise. Take it. I'm going to sacrifice for the sake of your life. I'm willing to let you live even longer. Take all the riches and joys in my life. Take it all."

So many tears were falling from her eyes. She tried to hide her face, her hideous double crossing face. But she couldn't hold her face. She couldn't control her fingers. As she continued to cry those tears, her hands were touching Sonic's chest, and then they were plunging through him, cutting through his skin and fur, cutting all his veins and arteries, and she could hear that symphony of his as she pulled out his golden heart that looked like the bleeding sunset, and it was the most beautiful thing she ever saw before she listened to the songs it sung that sounded like the voices of many angels and her teeth sunk into it and savagely devoured it, blood dripping and falling and staining her floor. Sonic winced in pain, and she could tell he was crying too, but as she ate the last slivers of his golden heart, he whispered those three words that made her cry so much that her eyes grew crow's feet and she now became old, disgusting, and weak.

"I love you."

She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was as silver as the clouds, her face was caked with blood and saggy, and her body became bony and arthritic. They ached so much she couldn't bring them to her face as she cried again.

Sonic didn't feel anything for her suffering. He scowled and said, "Some fortunetelling that was. What a load of crock." And he slammed her payment on her table so much that it shook.

It was only one copper coin. It wasn't even enough to buy bread in the kingdoms.

Her hut shook as the wind nearly carried off her blanket. She could hear the roars of thunder and the light flashing in the sky as he walked away, getting back on his horse. He seemed to pull on the reins too tight, and it seemed to whinny along with the thunder, and he disappeared in the distance as the rain soaked him even further.

She never saw him again after that. After that, she knew she might as well proclaim he dead.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: May edit this chapter later. Not exactly a big fan of how it was written, but I guess it'll do for now.**

He walked further, deeper into the woods, climbing up the hills, his feet caked with mud that was still moist from the rain. His radar told him that he was only getting closer, but yet there was still no sign of the creatures that would possibly dare to defy him. And his chimera was getting closer too, but still not there. He was within reach, but not there. And he felt like all his life it was always like that. Before he was given the gift of genius.

He was always so close to getting Honor Roll, but then, some snot-nosed brat who had one percentage higher than him was chosen, not him. He's not special at all, why did his parents even think that? We just know that he looked like a freak with his egg-shaped body, and how he was always a loner. Other children should like him. But whenever he opened his egg-shaped mouth, there was nothing that the children were interested in to keep talking. And his breath might as well smelled like rotten eggs. Because that was all he ever was in his life. A foul-smelling egg with a disgusting bloody yolk that needed to be thrown away. But he felt it was black now. After all, he didn't had a heart anymore. He couldn't feel warmth and life beat inside of him anymore. Everything was cold and dead. As gray as gray could be.

And as he felt anger at on how gray he was, he let loose more chimeras.

A starfish with one red eye and a row of sharp-edged teeth on its tentacles.

A Satanic-leafed salamander with a robotic head and tail, and its red eyes continued to glow under the forest floor's darkness.

A fox with the stripes of a tiger, with the same tiger-like fangs, ready to sink its teeth onto anything that crossed it.

Earlier, he found a bloodied corpse that seemed to belong to a horse, with some of its meat gutted from it. He thought he could take the DNA of the horse and make it alive again, with the mouth, eyes, and tail of an alligator. Its feet were long, but scaly and clawed, much like the denizens of the East Kingdom. This chimera could run quickly after its pray, and swim and lurk for it too.

Maybe this was someone's horse that got killed from a hungry thief. It could've belonged to a soldier. But he made it more beautiful now. It was in his army, and it would kill more than any of these soldiers ever dreamed of killing. His bishop with a gun, while the others only had flimsy swords.

It had AI intelligence as well, so many wires and metal inside its head, and he sent it after the two creatures somewhere off in the distance.

Won't they be in a nice little surprise? Especially with some of the things it could do now with advanced technology. And he thanked the tech lords on this special gift he could give them. The gods of data, facts, chemicals, and networking. They were the true creators of this world. Maybe another scientist from another planet invented Earth. Maybe Earth was nothing but a giant experiment from this one scientist, as he made us go through all sorts of ordeals to see how we could rebound from them, what causes us to grow in sickness and despair, and when we least expect it, this scientist's studies will be over, he will grow bored, and our planet will then be smashed into so many little pieces, and the world will be in a thousand pieces, so destroyed beyond repair, that we will slowly die out as a species. No one truly knew who created this planet or this galaxy. This theory was as plausible as believing in any god out there. And maybe he will write for this scientist's bible, and maybe he will make theories on what he does in his free time and what he eats everyday and what exactly he's studying. And people who believe in him will buy these by the thousands and millions. And soon they'll believe that scientists are the true gods too.

What kind of god did all these creatures believe in? It was probably stupider than his theory. These creatures had undeveloped minds, they couldn't possibly have a plausible theory on what made this world and why we are here today. They probably believed that this whole world was a giant lizard and they worshipped the very back it supported them with, or something as equally ridiculous as that. Or maybe they believed the Earth was flat. Or that the Earth was the center of the universe and the sun circled it. They didn't know a damn thing. They could've been as dumb as cavemen for all he knew. The world is better without them. He didn't need their damn stupid theories clogging up anyone's minds. They were better off being brainless animals who shit wherever they pleased and killed each other just to feed themselves. Pitiful fools they all were. And this land was such as pitiful. It was better off as a city.

"Roboootnik!"

Something, or someone, crowed out his name in a peculiar, raspy voice. It might've been a bird, but from doing research about this forest, he read on how the birds were like any other birds in the forest. None of them could talk or mimic words. And after all, how would this bird suddenly know his name?

He began to reach for his pistol.

"Roboootnik!"

His hand was on it now. His finger was lightly stroking the trigger. He heard rustling in the trees and bushes. Someone was here. Someone who knew about him. And he wasn't going to let him live. The voice sounded too inhuman.

"Roboootnik!"

He looked to his left and right. And his grip on that trigger was growing…

"Roboootnik! Silly, dumb, and stupid Roboootnik!"

Tighter…

"Robotnik want fame? Robotnik want fame? Then give me peace! And a cracker! Silly, dumb, and stupid Roboootnik!"

He looked above in the trees. And his grip was becoming tighter, as he aimed his gun at a green bird. It had a large, rounded beak, dark blue eyes, and on its back were many red spiral patterns that looked almost like scars. He never saw this bird before, and he never heard of it in this forest. And he wasn't sure why, but he was slowly becoming afraid, as the trigger was being squeezed even tighter, and the gun suddenly began to shake.

"Try to shoot me Robotnik! Try to shoot me!"

This bird was suddenly taunting him. And it seemed so calm as its stone cut blue eyes continued to stare at him, waiting for him to pull that damn trigger, waiting for him to end this bird's life.

After all, none of these creatures deserved to live in this Earth. This Earth was better off with just humans trying to fend for themselves.

"Try to shoot me! Try to shoot me! Chicken! Wussy!" And it whistled, while bobbing its head.

"Such a damn annoying creature. I'll put you out of your misery." And he took aim, and finally, the trigger was pulled. He heard a loud _boom_, and a rustling of wings.

He missed. And he heard that whistle again.

He looked up in the sky, and it was then that the bird began to take shape, and he thought that he himself couldn't believe it. It was a small snake with wings now, still with those cold blue eyes that were now slits, and it still had the swirled red shapes that looked like wounds, and this snake moved so quickly in the air, quickly slithering down on the tree near him, and the snake suddenly grew bigger, to the size of an anaconda, and before he could react and shoot this creature he loathed simply because it wasn't human it wrapped around him tightly, and his arm that was holding the pistol was completely constricted, so much that he dropped it, and it made another loud _boom _to no one in particular except to the screeching birds who took in the air.

"Ssssssilly, dumb, ssssssstupid Robotnik," the snake hissed in a whisper. "You never thought I exisssssted. You never even thought about the guardian of the foressssst. What will you ssssssay now? What will you ssssssay now?"

He felt his throat tightening so much that he could barely breathe. His arms and feet could do nothing. The blood flow was closed around them as he felt his entire body becoming numb and prickly. He couldn't even speak to talk to this mystical creature. He knew that at this very moment, he was close to death, and that struggling was useless. His eyes kept gazing into its navy eyes, its black tongue flickering in his face before it spoke again.

"I could very well kill you right here and now. But I'm not going to do that right now Robotnik. Becausssssse I alwayssss wanted a challenge, and this will not pleassssse me. If you reach for that gun, I will kill you, ssssssooo don't even think about it. Ssssstay here, ssssssstupid."

He stayed, and very slowly, it began to unfurl around him, and he felt such a relief as his rich blood plunged into his legs, arms, and brain. As much as he hated this talking snake for even thinking on killing him, he obeyed and didn't even so much as look at his gun. The snake was still coiled, waiting for his attention, and as its coal tongue slithered out of its mouth again, it transformed once again.

This creature stood on its tail, and the tail suddenly split off into two, and it was no longer green, but now looked much like human skin and human feet, and its body stretched and gave birth to human arms, and its head was rounder, a nose was now protruding, and the mouth no longer had fangs but lips that curved and smirked, and her green hair that looked much like the leaves of a willow tree, with many birds and insects crawling through, was growing until it grew past her knees. There was a halo of light surrounding her head, and her dark crystal eyes continued to bore deeply into him, and she laughed a jovial laugh for a while, as the white butterflies flew in and out of her hair.

"Do you know who I am sir Robotnik? I am the Forest Goddess of this Neo Geo Forest, the one who the so-called 'disgusting creatures' worship. I am very real Robotnik, and I thought I should talk to you a little about the future of this forest. And I very much see that it's very much in jeopardy here."

He scowled. "Yeah, and what exactly do you want to do about it, besides kill me right at this very spot? I have a very important mission to fulfill right here, and if you weren't going to kill me I would try my damnedest to fulfill it. Why did you spare my life anyways? It's not like I'm going to change my mind."

She continued to smile. "Maybe not, Doctor. And I'm not going to force you to change. I actually come here, ready to warn you. I'm not going to kill you right now because I actually would hate to. I may be an obscure Goddess, but I'm not senseless with my killings unless I feel like I have to. I was only showing you my strength, Doctor. And if you want, I'll continue to show my strength if you even look at that pistol over there, because it would be a stupid and easy fight, wouldn't it be, if you just shot me through the heart and I was already over and done with? No Dr. Robotnik, I actually want this to be a challenge, to have us fight for how long it might really take us, because you don't want things to be too easy too, is that right? Because with your knowledge of science and how to create all these other lifeforms, I was thinking that you could become a god too. And if we actually fight for a long time, and if you actually shed blood sweat and tears for this battle, I will fulfill your lifelong wish, Doctor. I will actually make you a god if you give me a good challenge, give me a good fight, and if you also make me shed my own blood and sweat. It may be a strange offer, but…"

He was flabbergasted, as he continued to try to put his attention on all the animals that were flying and climbing in and out of her hair. "So you're saying…I can become a god if I play in your little game? And why would you be doing this? Do you realize that you shouldn't be in the affairs of mortals like me? What if other gods made men like me into gods too? Is it really possible to achieve godliness if we followed your every command and direction? Why would you do this? Is there any reason why…"

"Enough questions, doc," she said. "The only thing I can really say to you is if gods are bored enough, they will challenge their own mortal creations and see how much they can really take, and if they can even defeat us in our games. And the only way we can get them to agree is if we promise them if they could become like us. You understand yourself that men are attracted to power, they desire more of it, and if they desire so much power to become a god, then I want them to know our suffering for a while, until they too get bored and appoint a mortal as a god. The only reason mortals listen to us in the first place is when we threaten and promise them something. If there was no promise or threat of heaven or hell, then humanity wouldn't be the same. I guess you could say…they would still be dumb cavemen. They would still believe the sun revolves around the Earth and the Earth is flat as a square. We gods love order, but we also love a little chaos once in a while dear Robotnik, and I want a little chaos in our little charade. I will allow you to create chimeras to fight me, and I will appoint my very own armies to fight for me. Please note that not only I can control armies, but the weather and the earth beneath our feet as well. And you're in quite a win-win situation. If I win, you'll be dead, and you'll feel no suffering. And if I die, you'll become immortal, and you get to do whatever with this forest as you please. Destroy it, make a new city with it, whatever you want. Simply just to entertain me. What do you say, doc? Will your cold heart say no, or will it lust for power? I'm very sure it will be the latter."

"Of course it'll be the latter!" he shouted. "I will challenge you with my own creations and you'll challenge me with your own! This will very much be like a real game of chess between you and me! But you better hold onto your promise, dear Goddess. If I die, you better give me the best peaceful sleep for all eternity, and if I win, I'll make sure this forest burns down to the very ground. It's foolish for you to even play with my life like this, but I'll make sure you learn a lesson. Apparently even immortals like you aren't perfect."

Her smirk widened, now almost like a deep gash as deep as the spirals on her back. "Good. I have my very own rules on this battle, so listen up.

"We will fight for the center of the forest, for the Dragonfly's Heart. Whoever's soldiers can pluck it from the deep forest will win in this war, and I will give you eternal peace or eternal life. Be wary that there are others who are also fighting for this fruit, but it is still here, its heartbeat still giving life in these woods. You are allowed to use any animal to make your chimera, except the dragonfly, and I will not recruit any swamp dragons in my army. They are our creatures and our creatures alone. We will only fight in the perimeters of this forest, and we are allowed to use any trickery or any dirty tricks here, since not all gods play fairly, and I'm sure you won't either. This will only be a dirty, maybe even bloodthirsty war, as I'm so very bored and I want to make this fight interesting. And all the four kingdoms can be used as forts, and if we want to, we can destroy and use these kingdoms as we please. You are allowed to go back to your home to create your chimeras, but your home must be only used for that, other than rest. If you retreat, I will send you to Hell. Is there any questions at all, my good sir? Any questions at all that will make you back out of this fight?"

And he looked into her eyes, and he said no.

"Good. And let this war between the machine god and the forest goddess begin then. You better run back, create your monsters, because I will be calling one army to help me right now. And if you so much pick that pistol up right now, I will kill you. Just run. Now." 

And as he stumbled with the still wet mud encrusted in his shoes, he ran as deeply as he could in the forest, ready to observe the birds, use whatever he could create to make a monster that even God would be afraid to see a mortal like himself create. He could use any creature, just as long as it wasn't a dragonfly. And he wondered what was even the purpose of dragonflies, and why they were so special in these woods. They were nothing but insects that always got on his nerves every time he fished with his family. They were just nothing but fish food. He heard of the phrase "As kind and loyal as a dragonfly's heart" and he thought that was the stupidest phrase he ever heard in his life. Dragonflies weren't kind and loyal. They were usually ruthless to their prey and didn't even care for their mate. This forest really was an idiotic place where all these idiotic creatures bred their idiotic ideals, and he couldn't wait to burn it all down.

The East Kingdom is mostly owned by reptiles, lizards and snakes, and some that have claimed they were born from dragons (usually the king would make these kinds of statements). Although everyone in this kingdom is blind and never even knew what the sun and forest looked like, they rely on their other senses to get through the cities and to attack the other kingdoms with the wish to be only one kingdom ruled by King Abbyhalla, the current king of the East. Their tongues and hands and feet can detect air currents, another living person by them, and in a battle, even what their next move will be. The East Kingdom is a very dark place, most of it in the caverns near Neo Geo Forest called the Mystic Caverns.

The East mostly gets their trade from selling gems and weapons to the other kingdoms when they're at peace, as the East is a large mining community. The Easterners are fast diggers and don't mind the conditions of the cavern at all. Almost right when a new Easterner is born, they're sent to work in the mines. And many of them don't complain at all about their work. Most of them love to do their job, and they do it well. When it's not mining they're worried about, it's also training to be in their armies.

The East are ruthless warriors, and are known to be dedicated to the Forest Goddess. Most are willing to kill under her name, and most of them carry the texts of the Forest Goddess with them when they battle, as they find it "inspiring". The East have been known to torture the other soldiers brutally, some even skinning them alive. One soldier from the North Kingdom reported back that one of their soldiers has been skinned from the East, and he saw it, and swore after he told the king, he will never tell it again, as the memories kept him awake every night. He still remembered him being a pink mat of blood and vessels, his very fur being cut away from him. And King Abbyhalla took his fur and skin and hung it in his castle. That very soldier hated the East, as he couldn't fathom on how they lived on such brutality. But they were cold-blooded and hated the ones with fur and skin. Their hate kept their blood frozen, and they continued to kill and torture. It kept them alive.

The East's well-known landmark was the Oracle of the Forest Goddess, a temple that housed a large turquoise crystal that jutted from the ground. They claimed they could speak and hear the Forest Goddess from it, and every day the chancellors came there to hear her and pray to her that no one will be hurt in their mining and there will be enough food to feed everyone. The East suffered with hunger pains constantly, as they rarely relied on the forest and swamp for food. Some did hunt for treeheads every so often, but they would often run at the sight of an Easterners face, and they would often come back with nothing. Many of the children died from hunger, and even if the child was one day old they would hold a large ceremony for the passing of their ilk. The chancellors were often very busy at appearing in every funeral (mostly for children and infants), but they said even when they were in the worst of health they could not pass up a single one. "The passing of our kind is an unfortunate tragedy, and we must take them with the highest of honors, so that the Forest Goddess can take them away in peace forever," they were quoted as saying. Although the king was brutal, the chancellors often feigned for peace among the kingdoms. They usually studied under a different kind of philosophy, that one said actually belonged to the humans a long time ago, called "Confucianism."

The chancellors were talking to the crystal again, as they prepared themselves to go to yet more funerals. Although they were scaly and had white eyes that couldn't see, they were dressed in luxurious robes in black and red colors that some humans would even say they looked elegant, and as they lit incense, light blue tendrils of smoke surrounding them as they prayed, their heavy voices were silent for a moment, as they could hear the Forest Goddess speaking to them in their ears in whispers.

_I require assistance as I am declaring war on a human that I think could become the next god of this forest, as he is a god himself. I know you are some of the only peaceful creatures in this kingdom, but I really ask of you to bring this news to King Abbyhalla and to kill any creature you can tell is unnatural and inorganic. If you still wish for me to be a goddess, you will do this for me and organize an army to defeat the human._

"There will be…a war?" the oldest of the chancellors said, with his thick white mustache. "And it's not between the North and South, but it's actually between you and a human?"

The Goddess wouldn't answer back, but he could still remember what she requested. And the news spread like fire between the chancellors and the royal family and King Abbyhalla. The King was fervent for his love of the Goddess, and he considered this the most dire of emergencies, as he said "the only one with skin I could only consider worship praying to is the Forest Goddess, as I know some lowly human unlike her wouldn't bless us as much as she does. I will alert my kingdom, and I will organize the bravest and toughest of my armies to kill the human! We shall slit his throat and drink his blood like the pig he is! This Dr. Robotnik will never think about challenging the Forest Goddess again when he meets me, or even think about living!"

The drums were sounded. The swords were raised. The kingdom was filled with screams and roars as many signed up to be in the king's army. Some even began to burn their homes as they knew they would die under the Forest Goddess, and they didn't want to ever know they had a home back in the East. Out of the cavern's mouth, the sky was a deep blood red, with the cinders of black smoke rising in the air as they continued to bang on their drums, continued to roar and shout propaganda, waving their flags around, shimmering in the smoky air as their propaganda posters swirled around the outside.

It said, with a picture of Dr. Robotnik on the front:

**YOU MUST LOOK AT THIS DISGUSTING HUMAN IN THE FACE**

**AND SAY NO.**

**KILL AND RAVAGE FOR THE FOREST GODDESS!**

**KILL ALL WITH FUR AND SKIN!**

**SHE DEMANDS YOU TO!**

The war between the two gods, and all the kingdoms, began. They all began to shed blood for the very heart of the forest.

And both of the gods smiled. They only thought on how entertaining this would be.


	11. Chapter 11

The cicadas began their dissonant chorus, as the sun was lankly setting down into the earth's brown skin, as the heat from the world was beginning to leave. It was no longer sweltering, but the swamp was beginning to become dank, and they could hear the sounds of the swamp dragons rustling in the water, ready to devour their prey. They were about ready to set camp for the night, and as Amy was preparing to gather sticks, leaves, and vines to make their new tent, Sonic was rubbing the beastly arm, as the sun sank its fingers into its scales. The arm continued to throb, as the heart tried to beat faster to make it alive, the blood coursing through its tree branched veins, and it shook and twitched, as it seemed to see with its own senses that there were other creatures out there, and it wanted to kill every single last one of them. Even the damned princess that was walking by him, her dress would look so nice with a tint of blood. But he tried to quiet those thoughts, to quiet the arm, but still it throbbed, still it ached, and he constantly wished he was back to normal, not this monster that was slowly rising from him, tearing down his body and becoming a machine that laughed and singed every time the gears and cogs resonating deep within his metallic heart.

He couldn't think that his heart was ice, as the cliches would say. It was metal. He knew he could still feel deep within it. He could feel it banging when he was with the princess. Banging with a metallic sound that didn't sound cold and evil, but a chime that warmed his body and rivered the blood to become more animal-like, warm and red and thick and it made him believe that things such as love did exist and right now, he felt it, and wished it would stay a little longer. Because then the machine would come alive again, and shut off all the rich oxygen and his blood would become black again, and that love was replaced with irrational hate and fear. There was a machine inside of him, and he knew that something, someone, had to take it out, even if it meant pulling out the metallic heart and all the red and blue wires had to be plucked and snapped, the electricity running no more. It was the only way he could feel like a pure animal, his pure self, into the once kind prince known as Sonic and not this persona he created named Reginald. Reginald sounded more human, and humans were as close to machines as he knew he could get.

Amy believed that he was more human than animal though. She never knew his real name. Else she would believe that he was the one rumored to have killed his sister. And yet as she walked with him, not one thought entered her brain that Sonic was possibly the murderer of her dear sister. In fact, she barely talked about her sister at all. And he wondered if they were ever really close. In fact, he thought he needed to ask about it, and he knew he rarely asked about things.

"Princess, were you and your sister Diana…were you ever really close? What did you feel when she was murdered one night in the Southern Kingdom?"

She seemed to ignore him as she continued to search through the woods, the thought that they needed to set a fire before the sun went down pulsating through her head. The swamp usually got a little cold when it was evening, and she wasn't going to have her or Reginald shaking all night because of the cold.

"I don't think we were _too _close. I remembered since I was a child that Diana would tease me and say I never had the potential to be a princess, and that my father should've picked her. And she constantly criticized me on everything I did. How I dressed, how I talked to the guests, even when I was practicing being the best princess I knew I could be. My sister constantly teased me on several of my weaknesses, and I always got mad and cried…but then…"

The memories of her sister were streaming through her now. She remembered on all the whinings she uttered when she was around her father, constantly using all his wealth on things she knew she didn't need, as she knew her father pitied her not being the _special _daughter that was born to be a princess. Her sister was older than her, but yet when her father scrutinized her when she was just a child he thought that she wasn't "good princess material" and decided that they would give the title to their next child. And Amy ended up being chosen to be the princess and have all these responsibilities, criticisms, teasings, stress, and rarely any time to herself on her shoulder, while her sister got to live the normal life of a child. She enjoyed having to play whenever she wanted in the castle, having the king buy her anything she pleased, and having her mother coddle her, while she wasn't allowed those luxuries. Her father constantly said they didn't want their princess a "spoiled brat". But looking past it, she was already spoiled anyways. She was a princess after all, and her family were very wealthy and could buy whatever service or whatever food they wanted and it would be on their table and they didn't had to lift a finger for anything. That would count as being spoiled. Her father never had a rough life fending for himself either.

But yet…she knew her sister criticized her because despite having the childhood she always wanted, _she _wanted to be the princess and to be highly respected and to live in a castle and be able to kiss Prince Charming and live happily ever after like her favorite fairytales. When she got older, her sister began to leave the castle at very odd times of the night, usually leaving at 10 PM without telling the king and queen…she never knew what she was doing during these nights, but somehow, this led to her being killed while she was talking with the Southern Kingdom. Someone out there had some sort of vendetta against her or the Northern Kingdom, and wanted her throat slit and nothing more. Just as long as the Northern Kingdom was suffering a little, it was all they needed, before all the kingdoms would collapse each other on the tragic death of her big sister. Maybe whoever committed the murder was against all the kingdoms being split, and they were trying to spread a message. What message it was she wasn't exactly sure. Just that her sister never got to live that happily ever after. She was dead, being killed by someone who obviously hated her, and she was buried, being eaten by worms. She thought unless she wanted to die, that wasn't what she planned on her "happy ending" being at all. And it was nothing but a sad, tragic situation.

After all, with her sister's criticisms, she became a better princess in the end. Maybe if her sister was still living, she would finally be proud of her, and say, "That's my sister, the star. She's the most beautiful princess in this land, and I'm very glad she's meeting the most beautiful prince in the land. They're star-crossed lovers, and they can pave a path for all of us using the stars they leave behind."

"But I miss my sister, Reginald. She made me become a better person. And without her, I wouldn't be a better princess than I was today. Not that it matters anymore, as I really want nothing to do with my father now…but still, she helped me when my father and mother couldn't do anything to cheer me up. By just…being there. Have you ever felt that feeling before, Reginald? The relief you get when you feel from just somebody being there for you? There _must _be someone you love out there Reginald, I know there must be!"

The light was waning, only a small sickle in the air, as the heat began to die down. Sonic couldn't think of anything else but the sunset, and how a little bit in his metallic heart, the small chime was beginning to ring again. The sunset reminded him of something, but he wasn't sure exactly of _what _it was making that bell inside him sing a small tune.

And for a while, he smiled, and began to speak.

"There was someone I used to love a long time ago. Her heart sang a tune that was similar to my heart's song. And to be honest with you, there were only two people out there that could make me do that. I'm not sure when I will meet that girl again, but…I can say that, yes, I do love them. I still love them even after the girl made me wretched and miserable. But maybe I can find that other girl again, and maybe I won't be wretched and miserable anymore. Maybe she can give me my medicine, the medicine that will make me no longer a cold, dead machine, but into someone as alive as a dragonfly. And maybe, my dear princess…it could be you."

"Wh-what do you mean, Reginald? It surely can't be me! I may be a princess, but…but…"

"But what?" he asked, smirking, getting closer. "You're the most fairest princess I've ever seen. You remind me of one I met way back when, and I realized that you are the one who can open everything for me. You are the only one who can make me whole, my princess. You are the only one who can make my heart speak again, sing the lovely songs it used to sing, but while I met that girl, it was muted, deaf and dumb. And I thought maybe you can fix that for me. Make it musical again, with your own voice, with your own songs, and maybe we can make a symphony together."

He cupped his hands with hers, as they stood among the swamp's crickets and frogs singing a tune of their own, and he stared deep into her eyes, and said, "Sing for me, my princess. Sing."

She wasn't sure why Reginald was acting this way, but she thought that maybe he was prone to moodswings. But she realized that she was harboring some…feelings towards him. Or at least, she knew she cared about him a little more than she would care about a simple ordinary person. But maybe Reginald wasn't an ordinary hedgehog. Maybe beneath his jaggedness, there was something…extraordinary beating inside him.

And she sang.

_I know why the beautiful black bird sings_

_It's because he hasn't cloaked everyone in his black wings_

_Yes, I know why the beautiful black bird collects his strings_

_It's because he wants to make all the lover's necks wring_

_Indeed, I know why the beautiful black bird has stones in her veins_

_Because she never had a heart, and she wants love to pull her reins_

_But we let the beautiful black bird sing_

_And sing_

_And sing_

_But we only look at the starry bird with hate_

_And let her sorrow inside her ring_

As she finished her song, her fingers were sinking into his skin, into his flesh, into his body, and his heart began to resonate with both a song and a bright golden flash she could determine was his heart.

She thought she heard his song before. It was the song that her mother sang to her when she was a child, and she could hear his heart crooning it smoothly like how soft his skin was to her fingers. And inside her heart it was singing that song too, and it sounded like an angel was cantillating it with a sweet, harmonizing voice.

_We will fly together, I will take you under my wing…_

_And you will forever know of…_

_A dragonfly's heart…_

And they curled their hands around the their hearts, feeling the beating that was trickling in their fingers, the light becoming warm, their bodies both feeling the heat, and they were getting closer, their heads and lips becoming closer, and the hand throbbed and the claws sharpened, and immediately Reginald pulled away and Amy was thrown back, while the arm twitched and rippled, and Reginald began to squirm and yell in pain.

Amy was left completely intact, unhurt, but her heart was no longer warm and gold and singing. It continued to beat, but was now beginning to have a few shards.

The arm's skin and scales bubbled, as if that monster wanted to come back out again, and Sonic was once again cold and unfeeling, and his heart was turned back into metal. He latched onto his arm, feeling all the pain that was burning into him, and he screamed again, as the scales darkened in color, his eyes were turning into slits, his tongue splitting, and he could swear that his other arm began to hurt too, as if it was turning into a clawed, scaly beast.

But as quick as the pain that was shooting through him, his arms began to relax, his eyes were rounded and his tongue was normal and pink. The pain began to recede, and Sonic began to act as if the whole event never happened, as he looked at her with a glare.

"It's turning to night, wench. When are you going to make that damn tent? I'm nearly freezing, and you're here on the ground, staring at me with that stupid look of yours. If you want, I'll do it myself. You can never leave a woman to do a job herself."

Amy was about to protest, telling him that a woman has been taking care of him for a while now and that if it wasn't for her, he would be dead from disease, but he disappeared into the thickets, searching the forest for their tent and camp supplies it would provide.

_So what. If he can do it himself, I'll let him. He doesn't need someone like me taking care of him all the time anyways. Hmph! Men!_

And she wondered why she even bothered in the first place. He didn't seem like he appreciated her help at all.

But she knew she couldn't leave him dying, and without him, she would've died in the forest too. Simply because in all of her royal years, _she never knew how to make a fire._

It was best to leave him alone. Reginald always seemed to be the moody type. Maybe when he got back he would kill something and bring back some meat. Her food bag was nearly empty, and her stomach wanted more than just a few bites of cheese that had slightly molded over.

She seemed to completely forget about the song she sung and the golden hearts and the fingers sinking into his flesh. It was as if it was a simple throwaway memory, something that her mind knew that this event wasn't useful to her, so it was forgotten, and abandoned.

She sat on a lone large white yellowed at the edges mushroom that somehow supported her weight, waiting for him. And she thought about things her mind abandoned over night too. They were unimportant things, things that only she could think of to simply pass the time, the hours and minutes it took for Reginald to return.

He returned, coming back with a few long-legs-long-ears, and he began to work on the tent and the fire. Amy tried to help, but he only said that he didn't need the work of a weak woman, and while she was about to argue with him again, she decided there was no point in trying to convince him right now. And she sat back on the old mushroom again, thinking once again of throwaway things.

He started a fire, they roasted the long eared pig over it, and they ate in silence, and were about to sleep in silence, until Reginald saw something peculiar over the fire while he tried to sleep.

It was crawling on the stick they used to cook their food, and it wavered its silver wings slowly, investigating its surroundings. The moon made the red eyes shine in the dark.

Sonic stared at this thing, thinking it was only a moth that was attracted by the light in the fire. But it inched closer to him, fluttering and flying towards the tent, while its wings made an awful, but yet small, screeching noise.

_Screeeeak. Screeeeak. Screeeeak. _And it was flying faster towards him, seeing that he was radiating heat and seeing him as a red and orange hedgehog that needed its attention. Dire, the voice in its head said. _Screeeak. Screeeak. Screeeak._

It landed next to him, its wings quivering and its red eyes gazing into the green. It unspiralled its tongue and was slinking closer to him, still making that wretched noise that woke Amy up.

"What is that noise? What are you doing, Reginald?" she asked wearily. Her eyes caught onto the silver bug, with the markings of a large Rorschach test on it. It made the noise again. _Screeeeak. _Then suddenly, the air turned into shards of piercing glass, and it struck Reginald in the nose, now bleeding a stream onto his body.

"Forest Goddess, what the hell is this thing?" he shrieked, as the blood began to make sticky patches on his body and fur. All he could smell right now was the overwhelming scent of his blood and metal, and it made his arm quake, as it curled up into a fist and smashed the metallic butterfly, gears and wires now broken and malfunctioning. It was dead, but the both of them could hear that godawful sound as they rose from their tent, and they could see nearly hundreds of them spinning in the wind of that moonlit night, their black markings seeming to glow into a deep rich purple. Their eyes all casted on them, the eyes of Satan's demons before they sent whoever gazed upon them to Hell.

His nose dripped more blood, and he could tell that these butterflies could sense it, and they were moving faster, going in for the kill.

"Wench, I don't know what the hell these things are, but we better run, and now. _Go._"

And they ran through the fields, without any fear of any moon howlers or fox-o-loxes attacking them, and it was at a breakneck speed.

Reginald was moving miles faster than Amy, as the blood continued to splatter all throughout his face. Amy struggled to keep up, as she never had to run this quick in her life. Mostly she was fueled by the fear of these ominous things made of metal and hellfire, but she knew otherwise she would fall prey to them, and she was running short of breath as she gasped the moist air between her lips and tongue, and very slowly, her legs were beginning to give out, the burning in them becoming too strong, charring her strength and stamina, and she could slowly imagine her death, being struck by large pieces of broken air, her brain cold as the glass stabbed her brain and made it bleed and ooze.

She didn't want to. She knew she didn't want to. But she began to yell for Reginald to help her, to take her away from these manic demons that wished so much to see her bleed.

"Reginald! I can't…move…much faster…help…get me out…"

Reginald looked behind him, seeing the princess falling closer and closer to the predators. He knew that she was slowly going to die, and he wouldn't have her complaining and whining again. No damn prissy little princesses he had to save or feed. He could be by himself, and he would be free. He thought that maybe this would be a good riddance. He didn't need her or anyone else to take care of him. He could survive out here by himself.

But while he was thinking of those things, his heart was panged with guilt, as if it was bleeding as much as his nose right now. And while he ran, his heart was beating faster, the guilt overpowering him, his eyes beginning to want to tear up over the image of her dying. And his heart was hurting too much to listen to his initial thoughts.

_After all, she did save me._

_After all, I could feel something when I'm with her. And it's…not anger, really. It feels light, and warm._

_After all, she was always nice to me, when I wasn't the same to anyone else. _

_Darling._

_Honey._

_Princess._

_I will rescue you._

He turned back, towards the butterflies, and while Amy was still in danger, she couldn't help but smile and be relieved when Reginald came back, held her hand, and they ran together, through the diamond cut stars and the milky white moon, and they both splashed into the warm swamp water, and they both held their breaths and went under, the inky blackness overtaking them as the demon flies flew overhead, and they were holding onto each other, through death and fear, and they sank further down, the blood from his nose drifting to the surface.

Amy knew there was a big risk here. The group chompers could smell their blood and they would be dead, but as the butterflies flew away and they rose back up, they never saw a single fish, any reason that they needed to pray to the Forest Goddess that they wish to be forgiven of all their sins. Because Amy realized when she was with Reginald, she was…safe. And she felt that it was more than that he could protect her and ward off all the things that wished to kill her. But their hearts seemed to beat at the same time, as he held her hand she felt warmth as if they were connected and synchronized heat and their blood together. She wasn't sure if she could admit it just yet, but she knew that slowly, she felt some kind of…togetherness with him, and that maybe this wasn't the hedgehog she first met that night. Maybe there was someone trapped through all his coldness, a little boy that wanted to be free from his mental cage, and he wanted so much to love Amy and protect her and make her happy, but something…something was keeping them farther apart. But yet she couldn't figure what this could be.

But she would let that little boy be free one day, and let him sing. Singing the song that she always wanted to hear since she was a child.

They rose from the water, still holding hands. The sounds of crickets and frogs flooded their ears, and the moon shone on the water, its white gleam being broken in small waves as the fish and other creatures swam and skit across it. Her legs still burned, and they were nearly out of breath with the running and sinking into the water. And they walked across the swamp in silence, while Amy still had those thoughts in her head. But she thought that they weren't thoughts she would forget. They were thoughts on how maybe she was starting to like Reginald a little more, and how much she wished they were back in the camp grounds so she could rest. She knew she was exhausted, but whatever those butterflies were…they must've been man-made. She never heard of those kind living in this forest all her life, and she knew that Reginald knew nothing about them either.

"Reginald…I think that there might be…something going wrong here. Those butterflies…I think they were created by a human."

"A human?" he nearly spat. "I hate them. Of course they would make something like that. But humans very rarely go to this forest. What would make them want to return here and make those things? Seeing those things…this really isn't good at all, little princess."

"What do you think is so wrong in humans, Reginald? They're just like us! They may not live in this forest, but I don't think they need to be shunned like so many other animals in this forest. I don't understand why we even do this. Why the separated kingdoms? Why the hate towards other creatures outside this forest? It doesn't really make a lot of sense!"

"Heh, typical of you to say something like that, your royal highness. We hate them because they think differently. They don't live like us. They don't look like us. Especially the humans. The humans live in cities and towns outside of this forest and they really have no business being here. Don't you see? They're different. They're not like us hedgehogs. So we just throw them out to other kingdoms for them to make and we try to live by ourselves. I think life needs to be exactly like this. All the animals and people of the world need to be grouped and put in their own special categories and not interact with anyone who's different. That way, there's no wars, there's no issues, and everyone is in peace. It would be a better world like that, my highness. A much better world."

"No it isn't!" she shouted. "Don't you know that different people were put in here for us to appreciate and to make things a little more interesting? That isn't right for you to think like that! I know that of course there will be conflicts and wars, but I don't think those can be avoided no matter how hard we try! We like this world because of how different it is, not that everything is the same! We like people of how different and same they are, and I think that difference and similarity can be beautiful when someone has the right combination! Don't you realize that we don't need the kingdoms like this and everyone should be together? Well, I know maybe we can never get along with everyone, but why the North and South? Why are you put in a different kingdom than I? I think after being with you for a while, I'm…actually starting to like you, Reginald. And I don't understand why we're both separated like this. It's…not fair."

He laughed a little again, a sinister chuckle. "If you truly knew who I was princess, you wouldn't want to know me ever again. I have secrets, and I don't think I can ever tell you them right now. Why won't you try to find someone else to be your Prince Charming? I'm not the right material for you, prissy pants. In fact, far from it."

She stared at him, a serious look that seemed to say to him _don't lie to me_. "Your name is…not really Reginald, is it? In fact, you don't look like a Reginald. Hardly anyone in the South would give anyone that name. I think I know who you are."

_Damn it, you don't! If you find out who I am you'd think I murdered your sister! I can't have you _ever _know who I am!_

"You're really…"

Amy stopped. She heard something crashing in the water, a red gleam coming from the distance, and a ear-piercing roar that made her heart begin to shutter again. And it was opening its mouth wide, ready to bite into Sonic with its large, jutted teeth that looked like silver knives.

She shoved Sonic out of the way as quickly as she could to avoid the beast. Even if she wasn't nearly fast enough to avoid the butterflies, she managed to push him away safely, as the monster's snagged onto one of Amy's pouches, the long ears long legs nearly completely devoured in one swallow.

This swamp dragon looked completely different to Amy. One eye glistened under the tree's glow, and half of its face was made completely of metal, along with its teeth that were longer than the ones on the other half. There was a glowing orb on the center of its back, glowing as much as the trees, the light a radiating pink that reminded them of the trees, of the life that flowed between their branches. The monster roared vehemently, its mouth glowing a hot orange before it belched a fireball, Sonic dragging Amy to safety as it scorched a tree, the cinders causing it to burn completely black, but the blue and purple lights still remained.

"I've never seen anything like that, Amy. I knew we called these creatures swamp dragons, but only because they reminded us of dragons, not because they really were dragons. The metal and the thing on its back…this creature was man-made too. And you said the humans should be with us? The humans obviously want to kill us all!"

"So do you think we need to run back to camp? This thing can't really catch us there, right? I don't want to…"

"We have no choice, woman. If we head back, those butterflies will kill us in our sleep. And this thing will possibly destroy the forest if we don't do anything about it. Whether you like it or not, we have to destroy it, exactly like how the humans want to destroy us. I can see this is a war now, wench. A war unlike the North and South war. No, this is bigger than that."

The beast cried again, a metallic cry that sounded no longer of a swamp dragon but of something man and madness made, and it swung its tail swiftly. Sonic didn't react fast enough, as the tail struck him and made his back collide with a tree trunk. He felt that his body was nearly broken, but only holding onto mere threads by the beast's power. The beast seemed to wait in anticipation as he slowly brandished his sword, the smooth silver being analyzed by its lone red eye.

"Alright, time to practice what my instructor preached," he whispered to himself softly.

The monster's eye glowed, as its mouth became a fiery orange again, and it shot another fireball, as Sonic dashed to the beast's body, wondering how suddenly he became quicker than how much he knew he originally ran. He noticed that his dragon hand was throbbing again, as his heart beat to the anticipation of battle and bloodshed.

And quickly he plunged his sword into the swamp dragon's chest, blood dripping from his wound as he once again roared another alloy scream, a scream that nearly pierced his ears in agony. He thought that this battle was quick and done with, as he knew he pierced the monster's heart, and he could feel it become cold and dead. He pulled his sword out, the blood making its silver now a shiny crimson, and the beast snapped with its sharp jaws, but he quickly dodged out of the way and ran back to where him and Amy used to stand.

"And that's how you battle. See, the monster is dead. It's slowly falling to the ground. I knew my sword wouldn't fail me."

And the creature's jaw was dripping with the red liquid, its red eye was wavering and becoming faint, and it fell to the swamp water, no longer breathing. The swamp dragon seemed dead, as the water began to become ruddy.

But yet his arm still shook and he was still shot with pain. He wasn't sure why it was still acting this way. The war was won. There was nothing to worry about.

"Let's go further, woman. The swamp dragon has died. You don't have to hide anymore."

"Reginald, I don't think…it's dead. I think…it still has to be alive. I may be a princess, but I know that no battle like that is ever that easy."

"Oh really?" He nearly chuckled. "You don't know anything about battles, wench. Of course some of them are that easy. Especially if you've been training for nearly all your life."

"But you said you were a miner, Reginald. That makes me believe even more you're not what you said you were."

His ears pricked up. He could hear something in the distance. Something that was hurting his hearing again with yet another loud and acute sound.

"Maybe…" he uttered softly. "You were right."

"About you not being…"

"Shut up! Here he comes again! Better go back into hiding!"

And the monster, nearly swimming through the dragon like a snake, resurfaced and crashed to the land with a loud pound, and its mouth was beginning to glow, as the fire was surrounding his mouth, flickering through his jaws.

Sonic inspected the wound he inflicted on the swamp dragon, and he noticed that it was completely gone now. There was no sign that he stabbed him anywhere on his body.

"What the hell is this? I knew I stabbed him there! He can't possibly recover from all his wounds that quickly! Or even at all! What the hell is this thing?"

As Amy surmised the beast in her hiding place, she looked at the pink glowing orb on its back. She noticed that it glowed completely white when Reginald stabbed him, as if it…knew that it was hurt, and that it had to revive him from the dead. There were two wires stuck to its jaws, and maybe…this pink thing was its lifeforce. The thing that would always revive him even if he was killed as horribly as being with those hundreds of steel butterflies. This swamp dragon could live through a thousand years with this thing on its back, and it was all thanks to this human who decided that it could fight against the animals by using creatures of their own land.

"Reginald!" she clamored. "I know how it recovered from the stab! The generator on its back! The pink thing! That's how it was revived! If you destroy that, then you can kill it for good!"

Sonic heard her, as the beast blasted yet another flaming ball, and they both dodged its onslaught. The trees next to Amy were on fire as well, but still continued to glow as if the glowing orbs on their branches won't let them die either.

"The pink thing, huh? If I can somehow make it there without an issue then this swamp dragon is as good as dead. Did you hear me? _As good as dead!_"

It seemed to understand what he said, as it screamed back at him with blaring cry, before swiftly turning around and swaying its tail heavily at him. Sonic jumped over, noticing that his arm was bubbling and distressed again, but he was inching closer to the life generator, that he couldn't be paying attention to his pain, no matter how much it constantly clawed at him to pay attention to his wound. The beast followed Sonic, with its knifed mouth wide open and its tongue stretching to eat him, to stab him with its jutted teeth, but he continued to run faster, faster than his feet could handle, as suddenly his tail ached, but he still ran, even if he felt something strange, as if it was lengthening, or becoming sharp, or simply being cut from his teeth even if he ran as fast as he ever saw himself run. It was abruptly that the beast screeched its unholy song again, and he stopped running, to see for a moment what it was that could've possibly stopped him.

Its mouth was oozing with black blood again, but he could see that a half of his tongue was sliced and bleeding on the swamp floor, still moving and shriveling at the moon's light. It could only taste of blood on one half of its tongue, and it was choking on it, its breath smelling putrid and of death. It was suffering, it was about to die, and be revived again by the life generator, but even through that, it continued to chase after Sonic around the his body, the blood staining his fur as it roared again, splatters of blood hitting him and the forest trees.

The life generator was turning transparent, giving him energy and recovering him of his wounds. Sonic knew if he acted faster, somehow kicked up his feet to move faster, he could kill this thing immediately when he cut through the generator. But he noticed that his tail was acting funny, as if it…changed somehow.

As he swiftly turned his head around, he found that his tail was longer, more stretched out, and it had needles at the end that were outstretched like a palm of a hand. The fingers seemed as if they were reaching for something they could injure and kill, maim and torture with only hatred in mind. It was a much darker shade of blue, like the far away sea he saw back in the South Kingdom, and the scales, he noticed, were as hard as stones. They had an almost impenetrable skin of a dragon.

Much like his demonic arm, as he realized that very slowly, he was surrending himself to the coldness of his heart, and maybe soon, no one would recognize him as Sonic anymore, but a blue demon from hell that knew no longer of even just maybe two people he respected, just nothing but the madness that would blind him as he killed everyone much like how Amy's sister was killed, just slicing them in the neck, and maybe drinking them of all their blood. A despicable creature that needed to die. And in the back of his mind, he knew that if he transformed into this thing, then this princess wouldn't like him anymore, much less hang out with him or let him live. If she knew this was how he was going to end up, she would've let him die the first time she saw him.

But he didn't want to "whine" about this now. He had to kill this swamp dragon before it killed both of them. If she was dead, he wouldn't even be wanting to think about this issue.

He climbed on the back of the beast, it trying to stretch its mouth and tail to whack him off, but he always knew that swamp dragons were never very good at bending their bodies. It shook its body, while wailing its discordant screeches, trying to quake enough for Sonic to fall off its body, and possibly for him to be distracted enough to restore its bloody mouth.

Sonic tried to scale the dragon's hide, and the shaking caused his one hand to slip and into the air. But he didn't fall. And he felt something hard on his tail too. As if it was feeling something.

He noticed that his tail, gripping onto its scales like the hand of a mountain climber, stuck to it like sap off a tree. It could even pierce its scales and make it bleed if it wanted to with its fingers, but Sonic seemed to think this tail had a mind of its own, as if this swamp dragon was bleeding enough with its torn tongue. Its mouth continued to drip, but he could see slowly that it was beginning to regenerate, as the life generator was still gleaming a milky white.

His tail continued to pull him to the top of the beast's back as he held on, and being completely agile while doing so. Sonic never considered himself a very good climber, but yet the tail seemed to make him think otherwise, as he got to the top of the swamp dragon in what he considered as record time.

The life generator flashed, nearly blinding him, as the swamp dragon's mouth was almost completely revived, the last threads of its tongue was unraveled, the bleeding beginning to stop as if they were stitches. Its throat was becoming as bright as the generator, the flaring orange and yellow emanating and glaring at him. The flames were dancing from its mouth, like maniac sprites that wanted to burn his body completely raw.

Sonic ran to the generator, and he pulled the sword in the smoking air, stained with the dragon's blood, and he was ready to kill the beast, ready to deliver the final blow. He held the sword firmly, his arm shaking and bubbling, until his tail, swiftly and suddenly, stole the sword completely from his hard grip and threw it on the generator, stabbing the machine. The pearly white and the pink lights were now gone, nothing but electricity and wires swarming forth, the beast screaming and grovelling, as its one and only thing that kept him alive in this battle was gone now, and the wires were now completely useless to it.

And the tail gripped the sword again, and like a vaulter, it thrust the sword through the air with a vigorous throw, stabbing the beast's tongue completely in the middle. The blood now circulated out from its body, and it once again dribbled and puked more of its life from its jaws, and it lapsed its head on the ground, roaring in pain, a robotic yell that was nearly crackled as suddenly all of the machines inside of it were beginning to malfunction, the cogs and gears no longer grinding inside its organs. And very slowly, the beast was dead, and a human made creation made from the very stems of madness failed, and would forever only be known for its madness, and not of the pain it inflicted. Just only madness.

It closed its eye, and its single red eye, as it became dulled to a solid black. It was a machine no more. But a specimen that fell to the hands of science, and it would never live its life as a regular creature now. It was tortured of its mission, its only existence, and the only reward it had now, was to die.

Sonic stood back, watching the creature shiver, slowly falling to the Forest Goddess' realm. But he felt no pity for this creature, or no sorrow. He knew what had to be done was what had to be. And he could simply have no pity for a creature that was designed to kill many of the creatures in this forest. If it was made from a human, it had to be hated too.

He could clean his sword later, as he pried it from the swamp dragon's tongue. There was no need for it now. They had to leave further into the forest, to escape all these wretched creations of man that only lusted for their death.

He imagined that Amy watched the whole thing. On how his tail transformed, how it helped him climb the swamp dragon, and how it took his sword and killed the beast. And she knew that this was only a sign that the curse was beginning to grow stronger, and it was killing him slowly.

"Woman, it's time to head out. The beast has been slain. There's no need to hide anymore."

She walked from the trunks of the trees and bushes, her eyes seeming to be wet and her face streaming tears. At the sight of tears, Sonic could only grow more annoyed.

"Why are you crying, wench? I killed the swamp dragon, I barely got hurt, I don't see how you should be so concerned…"

"You're turning more and more into this monster, Reginald! I…I don't know how this is happening, but right when I'm starting to like you, very slowly I will have to kill you!"

"But it's making me more powerful. You shouldn't be concerned, when there's humans…"

"I don't care about what you think about the humans!" she nearly screamed. "You don't understand that even though you call me things like 'wench' and all, I like you! I can tell you're starting to like me too! And when I think I'm…you know, you suddenly turn into this evil thing and you told me that I have to kill you when you become it completely! It's unfair! It's completely unfair! And right when I found out that you were a prince! I know you're the prince of the South Kingdom, Sir Sonic, so don't lie to me!"

She thought she was hallucinating. She could've been, from all her crying and how distressed she was, but there was no more demonic arm on Sonic. No more demonic tail. He was completely himself, and as he got closer, she learned that there was no more metallic heart inside of him. He seemed completely normal, into the hedgehog that she always knew he was, and he was holding onto her hands tenderly, as he bore into her eyes.

"I'm here Amy. I always was here. The problem is, is that I'm locked away. I can tell there's more to you than what I can see. You're brave Amy. Even if you didn't fight that dragon, I can tell you're brave, deep inside. You need to find out what you can do to keep me here, because I know that I want to be with you. You're the other woman I heard a long time ago, Amy, the woman who has the same song as me. And I realized that I want to be with you. But I'm stuck here in this cold shell of a hedgehog, and I can't be with you until you break it somehow."

Sonic released one of her hands, as she stroked the side of his face, the tears still falling from her eyes. "But what can I do to break it, Sonic? I know that I'm only a spoiled princess. You know that too. I…really don't think I can…I can…"

"Sure you can," he said, smiling. "All it takes is really is believing in yourself and maybe some self-confidence, but maybe you can get it when we're on this journey. But listen Ames, I'm serious about this war thing that's going on. This isn't right. There's something up that's making a human make all these animals war-machines, and that human obviously has some kind of issue with us. You know that we're going to have to fight this human now, wherever he is. If not, he's going to destroy this entire forest, and many people here are going to die."

"But…" She shook her head, her hands now covering her face. "I can't possibly save this entire forest! I can't do it! You know I can't do it! Don't put all this on me! It's too much!"

Sonic lifted her head, placing his hand under her chin, and she got yet another look at his eyes, green and not dead like 'Reginald's'. They were very much vivid now.

"You can, Amy. You have the power to do it. Maybe you don't have the strength like I do, but…you have something that many people lack, and that's a golden heart, that knows of no war and no strife, and I know that only you can stop this madness. You can do this Amy. I know you can!"

As Sonic held to her again, she could feel him fading away, the wind taking him to the back of his mind, again completely forgotten by 'Reginald', but still there, somehow beating. "I'm about to go Amy. But maybe you can sing me a song while I'm disappearing. Your songs are about as golden as your heart, and I love to hear them. Your songs are the only thing that keep me sane inside this hedgehog's brain, and I want you to sing that song again, the one you heard as a child. Please."

They were both tired. Sonic laid down with her, as she stroked his head, singing the song softly into his ear.

_Don't cry little one, don't be afraid_

_Don't be afraid of your emotions_

_Trapping you in a mental cage_

_We are still here, you and me_

_And I will protect you, don't be scared to look and see_

_We will hold hands until the jaylark sings_

_Until the sun and moon are a'hanged over the trees_

_Our bodies are united, we will never part_

_We will fly together, I will take you under my wing_

_And you will forever know of_

_A dragonfly's heart_

The wind was picking up the last grains of himself, scurrying away to the sky. But he slept while he disappeared, soothed by Amy's song. And when Amy finished, she fell asleep too, as the red sun began to peek at the land's edge, the mist covering their bodies, and the jaylark and mornsun birds began to speak.


	12. Chapter 12

The wind picked up the eaves of her tent, billowing harshly as she tried to sleep away the morning. She noticed a wind storm was arriving, but it was so difficult for her to sleep that she wished these things would come later, when she was supposed to be awake, not so tired. But sleep was such a thing that was too far away from her, too far from her reach. She kept lying awake in her bed, listening to the sounds of the forest. She heard animals making odd noises in the middle of the night, sounding off eerie screeches, and she heard some grunting and grumbling and the wind whispering through her tent. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she chose to ignore it.

Her mind still couldn't think of anything else but the dragonfly's heart. How smooth and round it was, how it beat all the life into the forest, how it was just ready to be ripe in a few days, and Knuckles…oh poor, dear Knuckles. How he was lying all alone in his bed, much like she was now. She was nothing without Knuckles. And she couldn't think of her life without him. Especially with the same illness that consumed her mother and father. The only people she truly loved and respected were disappearing, and she thought that the forest goddess decided to curse her. No one knew what this illness was, no one even knew the cure for it, but yet all these people she loved were dying from it, and no one can even called it anything. It was the Illness With No Name. And if she loved someone else, they would get it too.

That was why she never loved another person other than Knuckles. She feared they would disappear too. Disappear much the same way. With them completely paralyzed, maggots in their eyes and their blood black and their body rotted and decayed.

"Help me Rouge…"

She saw that body again. She saw it again in her dreams, and it kept her up all that night. She couldn't imagine sleeping again once she saw that ripe bag of flesh…

"_Help me Rouge…you must find the dragonfly's heart…help me before…it's too late!"_

She could see that ripe bag of flesh speaking to her, with beetles and worms and blood and vomit dribbling from his mouth and he could now somehow control his body, as these insects moved throughout his skin, and he was coming, trying to tell her why he couldn't save him, love him, even if he was nothing but a corpse, a body alive from the coffin.

"_Help me Rouge! Help me…before it's too late!"_

She heard a noise from the distance. It stopped her from her intermittent nightmare, her heart clamoring from her body, full of sweat, tears, and aches. Her ears pricked up, as she got up from her makeshift bed, and rushed out to see who would be out in this weather.

She could see two figures rising from the distant hill, something blue and something pink walking in her path. One of them seemed to have a long tail, another looked like a hedgehog. Or the blue one looked like a hedgehog too…but the tail made it look more like some cross between two species. She couldn't tell exactly what kind of species, however, as they were too far, too much looking like a mirage. The wind blew firmly in her face, and the skies were a mottled gray and white. It looked like it was close to raining again, and the air felt chilly and cold, as her fingers felt frozen. But she was more concerned on two hedgehogs coming near her territory, coming near the dragonfly's heart. If they killed her, then Knuckles would die too, alone and wracked with this wicked illness and he would spend his last days in his bed. Unable to move, unable to even talk, to even say that he missed his dear Rouge, his dear sweetheart, his dear queen, before he died.

"_Help me Rouge! Help me…before it's too late!"_

She grabbed her gun.

Amy's feet were very tired, and very moist with swamp water. They were bubbling underneath her feet and causing blisters, which caused pain every time she took a step. She wanted Sonic to stop and rest for a while, to eat something, to just sit down near a campfire and just relax and stop walking what seemed to be a hundred miles. She really thought she couldn't take it anymore, as she stood as Sonic took a few steps, stomping her feet (causing a lot of pain underneath her foot, but she didn't care at the moment), wringing her dress to drain it of swamp water, as she cried out, "Come on Sonic! We should stop for a while! I'm getting tired and I can't stand walking for much longer! Let's rest! Please!"

He didn't turn around. He continued to walk. "You're a big girl. You can walk a few more steps. Now come on, whining is just making us waste our time."

"No!" She stomped her feet again, winced, and she wanted to cry for how much pain she was in. She wanted Sonic to sit, to make themselves a tent and rest for a moment, but he was once again being obstinate. He didn't seem to want to stand still. But he did for a moment, as he looked at her with a look of annoyance.

"Wench, we don't have time for this. Let's keep moving. We're getting closer to a good place where we can…"

"I don't want to walk anymore, Sonic! I want to lie down and sleep! We've been going at this for hours and hours! We didn't even sleep last night! Please, let's make a shelter for the morning! I can't do this anymore!"

Her face looked exactly the same as a child who was pouting because she didn't get any candy. She wanted to stomp her feet and yell and scream and try to make Sonic stop for a few moments. Her feet were so sore that she felt like they were slowly being gnawed off by a striped fang.

She put gun powder in the gun, taking aim. They were simply sitting ducks out there. She hoped she would at least get one of them. They weren't going to get the dragonfly's heart. None of them were.

"I don't have time for this you brat. We're going to keep going whether you like it or not. There's an area by the lake where we can rest, and we're almost there, so be a good little girl and shut your trap!" He felt like stomping his feet too. He anger was simmering with dealing with this princess who was acting the same as a five-year old, trying to get her candy bar, kicking and screaming in the shopping cart.

"No, I want to rest now, Sonic! And don't you dare call me a brat! I'm not five, and you know it! Now let's stop and rest!"

"Yes you are acting like you're five! Now…" He silenced suddenly. His ears stood up, circling, hearing what sounded like clicks.

She was taking aim, carefully, carefully…if he could shoot the blue one, she could take out the pink one easily too. She seemed like an easy target…

"What is it Sonic?" she asked, never minding the rest. "Do you hear something? What's going on? Is it a fox-o-lox? A moon howler?"

"No," he said quietly. "Worse. I think someone here has a gun, and they're not afraid to shoot us with it. Grab my hand Amy, on the count of three, we're going to run for it…"

Her heart began to jump. She knew that Sonic was serious. She held his hand tightly, as he listened in on the sounds. He knew someone was out there with a gun, ready to snipe them off, while they were completely unaware, and collect everything they had with them. A thief? Maybe. But it definitely seemed like this person was from the West Kingdom. Only they had guns, other than humans.

"One…"

"Ready…" she whispered.

"Two…"

"Aim…"

"Three!"

"Fire!"

And they dashed through the trees and deeper into the misty bog, as the bat tried to hold still after her gun blasted, the force knocking her back a few feet, but she missed, and they completely disappeared, and they knew about her plan, they knew what she really was planning on doing with them. _Damn it!_ _Damn it, damn it, damn it!_

She loaded the gun with more gunpowder, started plunging it, making the gun clean so it wouldn't explode all over her face, as the two hedgehogs were off in the distance, lost in the fog.

"Who was that that was trying to kill us?" Amy's feet felt like bloody stumps now as they ran, becoming enveloped in all the whiteness and feeling the howl of the wind in their ears. Sonic's senses felt more fine-tuned to find this person, his eyes cutting through and listening in on the gun, the tail reaching out for her, wanting to choke her until she was dead and all of the oxygen escaped from her lips…

"I don't know. But it sounded like someone from the West Kingdom. Of course, they wanted to kill us because we're different, Amy. That's the only reason why she fired that gun. I know this person is female. I know this person is just trying to search us, trying to pick us out again. But that's not going to happen with me. She picked the wrong hog to mess with."

Amy could taste the fog's wetness as they were traveling faster and faster, her slowly becoming out of breath, gasping for more air. She could also taste smoke, able to tell that they were near a camp site, that this really was possibly someone from the Western Kingdom that wanted to kill them from the distance for some unknown reason. But she knew it wasn't because they were different. That was a silly reason to her. A silly, stupid, illogical reason. There was a better excuse than that, she was sure.

She could see something coming towards her, an unknown creature of some kind, possibly some kind of fast, fleet-footed snake, as this beast with green, glowing, slit eyes and horns and with the scales of a lizard and the tongue that could taste her heat and heartbeats was getting nearer, nearer, until she knew that it was now in her face, as she felt something pricked her neck as she dropped the gun, blasting again into the air as it fell on the earth, a murder of ravens flapping into the air and calling each other through the chilly, smoky skies, and she felt blood running down her chest like a thin red string.

Sonic held his sword close to her neck, and was very close to slicing her head completely off. His hands were shaking again, and he wanted so badly to see more of her blood, to cut her breathing short, to see her dead after daring to try to kill them off. Amy stood back, watching with worry but interest too, as Sonic tried to straighten his sword. He then began to speak to her after a short moment of silence.

"Who are you and why did you even think of trying to kill us? We've done nothing to you and a Westerner like you wanted to shoot us simply because we're different or you thought we were going to steal things from your campground. Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting. This is why you should never give a woman a weapon. You simply can't trust them with one."

Sonic kicked the gun away, into the mist, as the white bat's aqua eyes gazed up at him. She scowled as she answered him.

"Hmph. A misogynist, eh? I'm guessing the hedgehog with you is your little prostitute. I see. You probably beat her with an inch of her life. You probably slap her around and call her a bitch. Is that what I'm getting at here?"

Amy wanted to protest that it wasn't true, but Sonic pulled the sword closer, and her neck began to stream another string of blood while she smirked. Sonic only grew more vexed.

"Don't joke around with me. You tried to kill us, while we were completely unsuspecting. I knew you were about to kill my woman too. Admit it. You were going to kill both of us. Tell me a reason why I shouldn't chop your head off right now, or else you're going to have more problems than us to deal with."

She knew she had no choice. She was all tied up at the moment, after all.

"Yes, I was going to kill you both, but only because you were possibly people who were also after the dragonfly's heart. I have to keep alert for it, because many people every year seek it, and I want to be the one that finds it, because I need it more than anybody. I'm sorry that this possibly isn't the reason you're inside this forest. Maybe we can talk about this misunderstanding with a cup of tea, talk about our problems, even boy troubles, hm? I'm sure we can settle our differences with a nice long talk. And you don't want to murder someone who could possibly help you navigate this forest, hm? I know it from the back of my hand. I can help you if you give me a chance and trust me. And maybe then we can help each other out. Don't worry, I won't try to kill you again. Let's just help each other out from whatever ails us."

He knew a little about the West Kingdom. And the dragonfly's heart. He knew that the West were very close to the forest, therefore they knew about it more than the other kingdoms, and many of them were quite smart in surviving it too. Seeing from how well her tent was made, maybe she could be of use to them and help them survive deeper into the forest.

He lowered his sword, away from her neck, and she poised herself, soon wiping her blood and medicating her wounds from a herb. From easily picking it out, she knew which ones were edible and useful, and which ones were poisonous. Maybe she could teach them that too.

And she went in her tent, and when she came out she was holding her teapot and tea leaves, and they sat around the fire and talked, while the kettle screamed and hissed into the fading early morning fog.

They were holding onto cups of green tea as Rouge told them the story of the dragonfly's heart, while Amy locked onto her story and voice with interest, and Sonic was sipping his tea, aloof.

"The dragonfly's heart is a plant that grows in the center of Neo Geo Forest once every ten years, a plant that looks exactly like the heart of the forest goddess, and it can cure any illness, anything wrong with that person at all, even a curse or maybe even a psychological problem. Every ten years many people begin to reach the center of the forest, searching for it, and I thought you were simply people who wanted the dragonfly's heart as well. I have my own reasons for finding it, and they are only my own." She looked at the reflection in the tea, white silhouettes of the sky and trees. "I felt like I had to, but there were these people, very sick, looking for the dragonfly's heart too. They wanted a cure to their leukemia, and they asked me if I knew where the dragonfly heart was. Unfortunately, I don't know these people, and my reasons for wanting the dragonfly's heart is greater than them, so I just simply pointed them to the wrong direction. That was all really. I'm not sure if they would be able to survive in this forest by themselves. Fox-o-loxes are cowardly creatures who will take advantage of the weak whenever they see an opportunity. But they shouldn't have walked in this forest. There are too many dangers, especially in the swamp area. Night lamps, swamp dragons, group chompers, not to mention moon howlers out in the night. If you have an illness, the wise thing to do would be to stay at home. There's no need for you to be in a place like this. So, who is the girl you claim isn't your prostitute? Why is she here?"

"My name is Amy Rose, and I used to be a princess of the North Kingdom, and I find it sad that you won't even let people who possibly needed the dragonfly's heart more than you have it. In fact, you possibly made them die out here. What reason could you possibly want it? To simply sell it to someone who's willing to buy it from you? You look like you came from the West, which is a poor kingdom. Of course you're doing it for the money."

Rouge's anger was hidden, seated deep inside her for Amy to even accuse her of such a thing and to insult her kingdom, but she tried to keep her cool. She had a plan being birthed in her mind.

"I know the West Kingdom isn't exactly as rich as your kingdom, Miss Rose, but I would have you know that I am the queen of the West, and that isn't my exact reason to find the dragonfly's heart. I cannot disclose why I need it at this time, but I thought maybe we could come with a deal, since I want to make up for nearly killing you, Mr.…" She stopped as she stared at Sonic, who was gazing back at her warily, his mistrust evident.

"You can call me Prince Sonic, of the South Kingdom. I hope you have a good reason why I spared you, because it's evident that you're lying to me that you simply wanted the dragonfly's heart for money for your kingdom. I know the West. They're poor scoundrels who are willing to do anything for a buck. I've heard they don't even have enough money to keep the military in their city, so they started dropping their troops. I know that you're simply nothing but a thief like the rest of the kingdom, and I think no one will be saddened on your death. Now, what can you possibly do to make me rethink that? Maybe you can give the gun to Amy, so she can defend herself for once."

He looked back at the fog, where he could see the gun partially. He shook his head. "Women. They could never take care of themselves properly. Men have to do all the work."

"Ah, so the South Kingdom's politics left you bitter of the world, isn't that right Sir Sonic. In reality, the world is really nothing but that ugly face in the mirror you've kept ignoring for weeks and weeks, and when you finally see it, you realize how dead and hideous you really are. So we can agree on one thing. But I was thinking that I could help you. Why are you exactly in this forest? You're a prince and princess of the North and South Kingdoms, shouldn't you be heading home? I'm sure your kings and queens are worried sick about you."

She thought to herself, with a small smirk, how strange it was that the North and South prince and princess were here together. Especially with the rumor that it was Sonic who murdered Diana, the North king's other daughter. He seemed like the culprit. And Amy was too blind to see that. Maybe she was a really stupid princess. She seemed like it.

"Well…I can tell something is going on here," Amy said. "Underneath the forest's soil, in the voice of the birds, and in the whispers of the wind. I think that there's going to be a battle in this forest, besides from the North and South, and I'm here to stop both those wars, to stop the fighting before it gets out of hand. I don't know where exactly this war will take place, but maybe…this has something to do with the dragonfly's heart. And maybe we can reach a deal once we arrive there. Maybe once we find the fruit and we help each other go through this forest and stand up to this war, we can split the heart. Because I can tell Sonic needs it too. And I'm willing to split it half and half, so our problems are both solved halfway. Do you get that? Can we make a deal on that?"

"There's nothing wrong with me, you…" Rouge lifted a finger to him, silencing him.

"Yes, I get it. You want us to be a team and then split the dragonfly's heart." She looked at Sonic's arm, seeing the scales and the claw and the tail that made her body rack on how ugly Sonic slowly was becoming, and she knew why Amy wanted Sonic to eat the dragonfly's heart. He was cursed. He possibly made a deal with a witch. And he used to be such a nice prince. She at least knew that much from the South. Poor, poor Sonic…

"If you respect my reason to have the dragonfly's heart, then I will respect yours, and I can help you navigate through this forest, and Sonic here will be our bodyguard since he's obviously powerful with his demon-like strength. I've known the ways of the forest ever since I was a child, so surviving here with you two will be simple enough for me. You seem tired, Madam Rose, I can tell by how you move your feet, so maybe we can stay and eat in this campground for a while and then we'll get moving and start our journey. I have plenty of food, so we can start cooking a meal by the fire and relax. You're in good hands, and I will be sure I won't fail you."

Sonic still believed she was better off dead. The sound of her voice seemed…off-putting, as if there was some hidden agenda behind it. He could tell a little of these things, especially with his heightened demon abilities. Just the very scent of her breath he could tell if she was conspiring against them. He continued to feel for his sword, preparing himself to take it out whenever he felt he needed to, in case the wench decided to find her gun and shoot the both of them again point-blank. He would give her no mercy.

"Then we'll make a truce my Highness," Amy said. "If you really swear to help us find the dragonfly's heart, then I propose we do the Dragonfly's Heart Swear. And remember, you can never break this swear.. It's a sacred truce between all of the kingdoms, and the forest goddess will personally look down upon you if you ever break it, and you will be cursed for all eternity. Is that fair enough? Can we do the Swear?"

She got up from her seat, her cup completely emptied, as she nodded. "Of course. How can I promise that I will help you without the Swear?"

Amy positioned herself, as she put her thumbs together, and let the palm of her hands seem to drift in the breeze like small flesh-colored wings as Rouge did the same, and she placed her hands inside hers, and they could feel both their heart beats, the rivers flowing inside them. Sonic simply stared, thinking still on his sword, still holding it in the palm of his hand, as he watched them do the Swear.

"From the bottom of the dragonfly's heart, I swear I will serve the princess of the Northern Kingdom and the prince of the Southern Kingdom, and split the dragonfly's heart once we seek it. And the princess shall do the same and serve me, with kindness and hospitality. And we will bond like dragonflies in the moonlight, and we will serve each other until our goal is done."

They released each other, as the dry earth began to be sprinkled with a light drizzle coming from the gray skies. Rouge looked up, and knew that she couldn't cook with a rain storm brewing in the heavens, their own tea dripping here. The wind moaned, the makeshift shelter blowing a little, as the rain turned heavier, pelting them with the wet and cold.

"I have enough room in the tent for us to relax until the weather changes. Don't worry about the wind storm, shelter-making is one of my specialties and it will still stand here. Both of you look tired, as if you've been running all over the place since last night, so how about you rest and we'll make plans until the storm subsides?"

Sonic, still cautiously holding onto his sword, still paranoid, still mistrusting, and Amy, who had her full belief in the bat, went inside the tent, safe from the rain. And they prepared to sleep until the storm was over. After all, Rouge was right. They were tired, and they might as well get some rest before they continued forward into the woods.

Rouge stood outside in the wind and the cold and the wet, hearing her husband's voice in her head. She hated the rain, but it was so loud it caught her completely off-guard.

_Why are you breaking the Dragonfly's Heart Swear? They need the fruit as much as I do. They're just kids. Why are you going to do what you're thinking of doing?_

_Because I love you. And I always will. And I don't want our love to end on this sad of a note. I would rather have their journey end than our love._

She went inside, seeing the two hedgehogs sleeping quietly, and she dried herself off the rain and wrote in her journal of her plan. She wanted to know what she had to do in advance before they went back out into the wilderness.


	13. Chapter 13

The rain was mostly silent to the king of the Northern Kingdom, the pitter-patter of the rain falling with nothing but deafening silence. Silence was the only thing he could hear, and it was so loud in his ears. His thoughts were also too loud to pay attention to anything that was happening around him, the world all in colorful blurs that he didn't want to pay attention to. The blurs can come and go for all he liked, but would he like to stop one of them and say hello? No, he was too sad, too depressed. Too much weight in his body made him so slow, so heavy, that he couldn't run, even walk, so he lied there, staring at the black, dark ceiling. Even when he was lying on his bed made with golden sheets and comforters made of the finest fabric, he still felt he was the most unfortunate soul in the world, that no one could share in his pain, and he was alone, as alone as witches. All this wealth and fame and power felt nothing to him now, and it was melting through his fingers, to the deep darkness of his room, and he didn't recognize it. They were just puddles to him now. Golden puddles. Even when he wore his crown to the people, he didn't felt like a king. As these agonizing days approached and ended slowly, so slowly, being a king and pretending to be happy for everyone in this world was just as agonizing. A slow pain that needled his body more and more within these days, and soon, that pain would be too hard, too loud to ignore.

Both his princesses were gone. One was murdered. Dead, with her throat red with marks that cut through her arteries. Another he banished, and he was sure he was the exact cause of her death, he was the one to blame, he was the lowliest king of all the land, and he should be punished, even tried for murder. His sweet princess might as well have been dead too. He knew she couldn't survive out in the wilderness. She was too sweet, too innocent, and too pure to even handle the fox-o-loxes and moon howlers. They would've torn her apart like the many stuffed animals in her room, her insides strewn across so easily, without a single forethought. And he couldn't think of her fate as he lied in bed that night. She was probably eaten by those fox-o-loxes, or starved to death, or died by hypothermia. And he was given some backlash for his decision, and over time, he felt more and more guilty, so much that tears were finally being shed for his misdeed, and he wept for many nights now. People even said he was a cruel, unjust king, and he should be revolted against. And he had many arguments with the queen on the whereabouts of her daughter. Of course, he couldn't tell her that she was probably dead.

He thought of all the times they spent together when she was a child. She had such a radiant, smiling face that glowed in his life and around the castle, and she usually spent the afternoons playing with her sister, and they were so happy with him back then. They smiled, they laughed, they played, and they called him "daddy" and they respected and even loved him. He knew that none of them did now. Diana wouldn't approve of him banishing Amy if she was still alive today. He was sure that she was up in the heavens, trying to get across to him that Amy needed to return. But it was too late.

He wasn't sure which one he wanted to carry on the title of a princess, but even if Amy seemed a little inexperienced, a little too trusting, a little too ditzy and young, he chose her; because he felt she had promise. Because he wanted a good queen over the land and Amy seemed to have the courage and kindness to be a fair one. He would promise these people that if they didn't liked how he ruled over this kingdom, the queen would do a much better job, and his people would be treated fairly. And they would be loved as much as he loved his daughter.

And now that queen was dead. Their fair queen he promised to those very same people who were gazing at him with expectant eyes. And he could only lock himself in this room, and sob, away from the world, away from his wife, to the edges of darkness and to the edges of the kingdom, away from the self that told him to keep himself together because these people needed to be led. No, sometimes he couldn't lead people. Sometimes he was just broken, and he couldn't give a single order because his throat was too choked up, and he was too disorderly, his mind still chaotic and sad and miserable. His dear princess was gone, away from this world, and nothing mattered to him anymore. He was cold, and fragmented. No one could absolve him of this misery. He felt much like King Midas, when he turned his daughter to gold, and he couldn't get her back to flesh and heart and blood no matter how much he tried. Only if his princess was returned to him, and she was safe and sound, and she was as happy and bright as she was when she was a child, when her sister was still alive. But the forest goddess was looking down on him, and he knew he would never have his daughters back. Not even if he sacrificed to her or decided that he would follow her advice and only hers for the rest of his life.

They were gone.

The room was so dark that the only things he could see in the half-light were all the collections of gold and silver, the hands of wealth trying to reach out to him, but he didn't care if he could afford nearly anything in this kingdom. King Midas could afford everything too, but life was more valuable than all the precious metals in the world. Amy meant much more to him than the castle, than his royalty, than of all of the East's gems and swords and other weapons that he would give to the army to defend their very lives to battle for the king's own life. She was gone, completely and utterly gone, and there was possibly nothing he could to bring her back. Nothing at all. And he sobbed that night, and he shed so many tears, and he let himself just bleed out tears, let him bleed, let him bleed, because both his princesses were gone, and this was a sadness that would be with him for the rest of his years, however many he had left now. He assumed not many. And he didn't care if someone took a pitch fork to his throat. He knew he deserved it. He felt he was nothing better than a murderer, or that he was one, for banishing his daughter simply because she didn't want to marry a man she knew she didn't love. He was a beast now. Nothing better than a swamp dragon. He might as well have jagged teeth and scaly skin and slit eyes.

And he slept for the rest of that night, alone and bitter. And when the frost would dust his crops with ice and he knew winter was coming, he couldn't spend the Feast of Winter with any of his daughters. He would be alone, and only alone. Even his wife couldn't comfort him.

He watched as the last slivers of the moon sank into the sky, and it began to wear scarlet scarves, with streaks of gold and fuchsia. Dawn was arising.

He cried for so long that he couldn't even sleep that night. But a plan formed in his head, and it began to grow steadily, like a plant that had plenty of water and plenty of sun. This idea was given so much sun and so much water, with his misery and his loneliness, that he thought that maybe…maybe there was a way out for him. Maybe he could love his own children again, he could love someone as much as Diana and Amy, and he would be whole again, happy, loved, and fortunate, and he would become the greatest king he could be with all this love. Soon, he would rise again, and become a great king as much as he predicted Amy would become a good queen, and his sanity would be pieced together, slowly, surely.

He heard that the clay outside the kingdom could be formed to make something. He saw Amy and Diana playing in it once, seeing them make their own dolls and their creatures come alive when the rain came down that day. And the rain settled, as it dripped from their roofs and pillars. He could make something that would replace his love, a new child, a new creature, born of clay, born of his simple imagination, his simple desire to have children again, and he could be assured that this clay child would love him, and keep him at peace. It would be his cure, his medicine, the thing that would make him not sick with misery any longer.

So he went outside, collected as much clay as he could, the big orange lumps going inside the castle, and he thought of what he would make this child like. Maybe he could make it like Amy, or like Diana, or a child he always wanted to have! He would make it about the same height, he could plead with the Forest Goddess to bring it to life, and she would be just as headstrong as his daughters, and as lovely as Amy, he would do anything to have children again, even sacrifice the blood of the South if he had to! Oh love, love was going to be born again of clay and molding hands, and he was so happy now, his head so in flight with so many ideas on how his perfect child would look like, and he went to work, rounding his very creation, his very love.

It took him all morning to get her exact shape right. His hands toiled at his very work, making the hands, the feet, the head, slowly giving birth to it, and he felt like a carpenter giving birth to a house, a place that was going to be full of happiness, as most creations were. He even felt a little godlike, giving her any set of eyes he pleased, making her the exact shape and height he always wanted his daughters to be. She was going to be a little like Amy, a little like Diana, and as the paint would cool, he was going to paint her eyes beautifully like the open sea, and her quills the very color of lavenders and roses. But as the morning gave way to the afternoon, the sun protruding from his windows, she was a hedgehog, much like Amy and Diana, and he painted her eyes blue and made her the very shade of coral, and he was so glad of his creation. How perfect she was! She was an infant that needed to be cradled, to be given the breath of life, and he was willing to do the very thing he had to do to make it happen, as he wanted the child to come alive and hug his neck and kiss him. Oh, how much he wanted love, much before Amy was abandoned by his uncaring hands, when he wasn't careful enough before Diana was murdered! He would show her that his hands were now kind, and that he wasn't going to hurt any of his daughters anymore, and love would be given to him, and he was about to make the deal with the Forest Goddess and to make clay into flesh, to put the heart he needed to make the doll click and respond and kiss and laugh and say "I love you too daddy".

"Forest Goddess, I have a simple plea, a simple request. I ask of you if there is some way I can make this child alive, to make it love me back, to make it just as perfect as Amy and Diana, who are dead now in this world of yours. What can I do to make her love me? What can I do to make my life come together again? I do not want to be a loveless king anymore! Please, tell me what I must do to give her the gift of live, the gift of the senses, the gift of consciousness! How?"

The Forest Goddess smiled. She knew that Amy was alive, and with the prince of the South Kingdom. She was starting to get a little bored of their adventure. Maybe she could do something to spice it up a little. Of course she would lie. She would tell him that yes, Amy was dead, and she would make sure no one saw her for a long time.

"I will bring her to life if you bring me the prince of the Southern Kingdom, Sonic. If you sacrifice him to me, I will make your doll into a real little girl. He was banished from the Southern Kingdom as well, and he is in the forest, trying to seek the dragonfly's heart. If you make your soldiers, or anyone, find him and bring him to me to your castle, I will make your child come to life."

"Yes…yes, of course! I will do what it takes! I don't mind spilling the blood of the Southern's son, even if his father no longer cares for him! I will do this deed, and I will have my daughter again! Thank you Forest Goddess, I will do your request! I will make Isabelle into a real, live hedgehog girl, much like Amy and Diana!"

And he put Isabelle in the far corner of his throne, staring at him with lifeless, empty chipped eyes of acrylic paint, as he made his announcement to the kingdom. He imagined her reaching for him, to hug him and to ask why daddy was going away, and if he would be back before tea time. And he said yes little girl, I will return, and I will make you very happy, and I promise that.

"My good men! The war with the South Kingdom isn't over, but we must never mind their castle for a while and focus on the prince, Sir Sonic! It is your very important duty to bring him to me, and I will make him into a message that the South must heed, and the fires of the war might become higher, but I am sure we will make them into a mockery, and we will win! I've heard that Sir Sonic is in the woods in Neo Geo Forest, and if you capture him and bring him to me, I will make you one of the richest men in the entire kingdom! It's imperative for me and for all of the North Kingdom if you find him, and we will become victors and drink mead like the heroes of the humans!"

They saluted, and they marched away, and they searched far and wide for Sir Sonic, for the promise of wealth and to become a hero in the king's eyes. They shined their swords, they wore their armor, they carried the shields that had the face of the Forest Goddess and the sun, and the king smiled and knew that he would carry out the Goddess' wish, and he will be a happy man yet again. He thought maybe he could make another child, and it will be like old times yet again, and he will no longer be alone.

He cradled Isabelle closely to his chest, while she gazed emptily into the hallways and to the light that was cradling her as well, and he hummed the song, and he repeated the last few lines for her to remember. She was going to be brought to life, and she was going to know who a daddy was, and she was going to know him as a kind daddy and a kind king, and no more would this abusive cycle continue. He was going to be a good king from now on. A good king. From now on.

_And you will forever know of_

_A dragonfly's heart_

_And you will forever know of_

_A dragonfly's heart_

_You will forever know of_

_Diana's scream_

_And Amy's pleas_

_And you will forever know of_

_My suffering_

_But you will become alive with_

_My threads and from my black wings_

_And I will give you_

_Everything you'll ever need_

_Because I love you_

_This much is true_

_And you will forever know of_

_The desperate man's deed_

He looked into her eyes, and he could tell that they were still empty, still devoid of life, but he was going to give her that kiss of life, and soon, he would be loved again. The queen would have a new daughter, and he would make his new clay child a princess too. He quite liked the name of that. Princess Isabelle Rose. He quite liked the names of Amy Rose and Diana Rose, but they were gone now, and he thought that they wouldn't leave his memory by reminding him that he had to be a good father now. No matter how dark these times were, with these constant wars between the North and the South, he was going to be happy, and he would make his daughter loved, and even if the South King chopped off his head, he would be in heaven in peace, because he gave out his heart to make this child come true, and even if he had to kill another hedgehog's child to make his have skin and organs and a skeleton instead of clay, he was willing to make it so. The desperate man's deed. He would make it so.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: I apologize for the long hiatus and I will try to write again, but I was really stressed out with this chapter for a long time.**

**This was possibly the hardest chapter I've ever done in my fanfic writing career. It took a total of three weeks, and I rewrote it possibly countless times, as I was off my medication and I couldn't think clearly when I tried to finish it. However, I rewrote it again as the medication is streaming in my veins now, and I believe it's much better now.**

**I'm sorry for the long delay, and I hope you can still enjoy this chapter despite my shortcomings.**

Rain dripped from the leaves and the forest trees, beating on the tent with their wet hands and feet as they ran across it like happy, excitable children. She awoke to the faint lucent shadows sliding across it, and the afternoon sun glared overhead, the heat and the sun's grip on her eyes forcing her to be awake. She wrote so much in her notebook that she fell asleep along with Sonic and Amy, and now she felt sweaty and she felt that her skin was growing thorns. The air was humid now, feeling herself choke a little on the air, as bloodseekers feasted on her and made her skin creep. Humans had a way to keep them off, but her kingdom was too unfortunate enough to make this invention. Her skin constantly itched, becoming red and white, but she was too afraid to smack them. She always was disgusted with the small pool of blood that would gather after a bloodseeker was crushed, but she was too afraid of killing a dragonfly. Dragonflies were often mistaken as bloodseekers, and it was all too common that they were killed. In all of the kingdoms, it was illegal to kill a dragonfly, as they all knew of how sacred a creature they were. And it was possibly the only thing that she knew that the kingdoms could agree upon. And it was sad really. It really was.

She dreamed last night. She actually was awakened by not her usual nightmares about her husband, but she dreamed of the crimson butterfly again, and she thought she could hear the forest beat as it touched upon the dragonfly's heart. As she gazed there, her body feeling rotted away and her own heart aching for her husband to see this sight too, but she could see the trees swaying rhythmically to the beat of the forest, and she could see the silver streams beginning to spout and water the land too. She had this dream before she searched for the dragonfly's heart, and she felt that this dream was possibly telling her something, whispering it in her very ear. But this dream, it seemed to scream that same message, because she was too deaf and dumb to get it the first time. Because in this dream, she saw the Forest Goddess, and she spoke to her from her wet green lips.

Rouge was bleeding on the ground, almost as sick as her husband. Worms were tearing through her heart, and she always felt like she was on the verge of puking a black substance. It was becoming a nightmare to her, as she herself had the Unnamed Illness, and she was going to suffer the same fate as her husband. She was crying, but she felt the Forest Goddess' soft hand lift her chin, and she spoke to her.

_Bring Sonic to the Northern Kingdom. Bring him to a Northern soldier and let them take him. And everything will slowly unfold itself to you. And your husband will soon be safe under my arms. And you will be safe, and comforted, as well._

And when the black clouds covered her naked body, she woke up, and found herself staring at the raindrops that gathered on her tent, as they formed peculiar, amorphous shapes. Sonic and Amy were still asleep, and the noon sun was just a lone infant up in the sky, and she knew they had to wake up now, before it got dark, and the moon would become as sharp as the sun.

"Sir Sonic. Madam Amy. It's time for you to wake up. We must leave now before the noon sun sinks and it's night. I trust you two had a good sleep?"

Amy yawned like a lion, her mouth almost appearing just as fanged, while Rouge noticed when Sonic woke up, one of his eyes was a ruby red.

It was slit in the middle, a fine cut of the knife, and he felt his other arm was numb and cold, throbbing just as much as the other one. It felt frigid to the touch, and Rouge felt uneasy around his tail as it awakened too. It could feel the heat emanating from their breaths, and it thought that maybe it could strangle both of them, simply because they were alive, they had two arms and two legs and two eyes in which they could see just clearly. And it was never given any of that. It was simply a tail stuck to this hedgehog's ass, and it hated it. And it wanted to attack anyone who had the chance to be a live animal like the rest of them. Like the fools who don't appreciate the life that was given to them, because it would surely snuff it out before they even began to realize it.

Rouge saw the one red eye, looking as stirring in color as a fine cut gem, and she began to be afraid for Amy, and of course, for herself.

Sonic was becoming more and more of a monster, and now he had one red eye that looked as if it was ready to crack at any time, and she kept thinking that Sonic was going to kill her, before she could save Knuckles. It brought fear, almost agonizing panic to her veins, and she tried to hide it. But it was only like hiding an elephant in the room. She was sure that Amy could still see it.

_Why, of course, Rouge thought. Why didn't I think of it before?_

This was why Amy wanted the dragonfly's heart to cure Sonic's curse. It was faster than what she originally thought, faster than most curses caused by striking a deal with a witch.

Because he would grow into a powerful demon, so quickly, his transformation possibly completed in the next few days.

And he would kill her and many other people. She even felt that Sonic wouldn't even mind to kill her either. And right now his eye looked hungry, and it thirsted for pain and suffering.

"Sonic…I don't know how I could show you what's going on, but…your eye. One of your eyes…it's red. And demonic looking. And I don't mean puffiness or lack of sleep either. I mean that it's really red."

"Yeah? And so what?" It was like talking to a brick wall. Sonic didn't care, and she knew that he didn't care that he was going to murder Amy any time now. He was a bomb now, and she felt that he was going to be set off any minute now, and he felt that maybe Rouge would look nice without a head now. He still thought that she would've been better off dead than to trust her. And maybe he could've drank all that blood that would've spouted from her head like wine.

"So the fact that you're slowly becoming a demon and kill both of us means nothing to you? Of course, that's how the curse works. I should've known that people who make deals with witches seem to lose their very soul along with their contract. You fool. You stupid, pitiful fool. And there's nothing that could save you but the dragonfly's heart. You stupid, damn fool."

She knew all about the witches and the Counsel before even hearing of the old lady's tale. Because she actually considered giving her soul away so Knuckles would be alright, but she thought that she would rather be with him as a loving wife when he was about to die more than have him healthy and not even care of his presence. She saw that people who left the deal always had their hearts frozen, and she didn't want to be like them, especially not like Sonic.

"Why are you calling me a fool?" he snarled, his fangs exposed as if he was becoming a bat himself. "I didn't do a damn thing like that! I stay far away from witches. They're useless to me and they're nothing but parasites in this world, and I think this whole damn forest would be better off without them. I wished I could finish them all off, and maybe I'll be called a hero. Don't claim things that aren't true, wench."

She knew exactly why Sonic's soul was taken. But even if she told him, he wouldn't remember or even acknowledge it. That was how the contract and the magic worked. They worked at the very seams of the brain to somehow forget the exact event, to carve a completely different story for the sufferers, so they would never know that their heart was gone, that they gave up their very enjoyment of life just to have one simple wish granted. People who made a deal simply thought it was their very innate nature, something that they were born with and that they always were this way. They don't even realize how cruel they acted to anyone. She was better off dropping the subject, even if she felt a little sorry for him and felt Amy's pain in trying to get him to recover. He simply wouldn't remember how his heart was stolen, no matter how many times she told him, and even if she presented him with proof. The whole event with the witch named Elise Blackhawk was completely lost, abandoned. Even if she didn't want to, the magic worked as well as a witch who went through a fair deal and badly desired their heart to keep their youth. Elise didn't want his, and the Counsel punished her by making her a crone now. And she was unloved and lonely, and Sonic was suffering too.

"I'm sorry Sonic. Please excuse my slip of the tongue, I really didn't mean it. Let's move out of this shelter and into the woods now. We can't waste any more time arguing."

"But…I don't understand, Rouge? What do you mean that Sonic made a deal with a witch? What do you mean that…?" Amy merely just tried to understand. She heard of witches in the forest, but her father never told her much about them. He simply said that they were people she had to avoid at all costs, even if she badly wanted respect and only respect in this world. But she wondered what this all had to do with Sonic. Maybe if she knew the truth on what happened to him, she would know his cure, and maybe she didn't need the dragonfly's heart in the end. She could find out his suffering, his misery, and she could absolve all the light inside his soul that was taken away and replaced with something as black as soot, as black as coal, and maybe she could make Sonic right again, make him the happy hedgehog she knew he really was, trapped inside that cold cavern of his mind, freezing.

"I'll tell you later, Miss Amy. Let's go now, the sun is sinking further and further into the sky the more we talk and wonder about all these insignificant details. I don't want to spend any time chit-chatting now. We're already behind schedule, and I know we need to hurry and find that heart so you can heal Sonic. Let's go."

Sonic grunted in mild annoyance, but he went along with the both of them, still gripping onto his sword tightly and his tail still waiting patiently for them to make the right move, setting its chess pieces into the right black squares. He just had to wait for the queen and bishop to make one good mistake, and maybe he could win this game. Maybe he could make the white squares red.

Amy felt that something wasn't right, that something was amiss in this moist, sweltering air, but she walked with them too. She could see in the distance that the trees began to swivel, as if they were reflections off water, but even if she began to sweat and become thirsty, she knew she had to try to be quiet, or else Sonic might react violently. He was a bomb. He was going to explode any minute now, as that one red eye continued to gaze at her warily, looking just as bright as the sun that was heating them. She could almost feel him grinning at her, as if he was drinking in all this madness, and he would even swim in it and have both of the women drown.

They headed out, the leaves' shadows overcast on the ground, making it mottled with darkness, but they still felt sultry under the trees. Amy knew that the sun wouldn't go away until dusk, and it would continue to beat on their backs and make them raw and red. As red as Sonic's eye.

The forest sounds were mostly whispered and muffled, only the screeching of the cicadas audible. Sonic was using his sword as a machete, cutting the bushes and small trees that were in their way, his hands sweaty and blistered while he was doing so. Sonic wished for once that there weren't so many of them, and maybe his arms and stinging hands would relax for once. The drone of the cicadas was still high as they walked, singing of a song that only they knew, that only they could sing with their scratchy voices. But they were mostly ignored, while they hid themselves in the forest, away from sight, away from anyone knowing who was the one who was singing that awful song. The birds even began to feel a little hot under the sun, their feathers not getting much cold air underneath their bodies, and they twittered, begging for the heat wave to stop and they could fly freely again in the air, but they felt they were roasting, and even the salamanders that came out with their wet, spotted skin as smooth as a newborn's felt that it was too hot, their skin was becoming dry and they would become a husked shell if they didn't move faster to a log with the moist ground, hidden away from these animals who thought being in the forest was such a good idea. No, it was time for all the animals to hide, the time was nigh, and they could feel the rumbling of the air, and the forest would soon betray them!

Ha! The salamander chuckled, let them rot, let them bleed under the sun, while I stay under and hide from the heat, while I'm a smart creature who even knows it's suicide to be out here, in a place that's as hot as hell. Salamanders knew what hell was, because they've seen the Forest Goddess talk to them about it before they were born, and she showed them that they had to be kind and be salamanders and not dogs, and not bite anyone with their soft mouths. So it's the creed of the salamanders, to be under the ground and not bite, while these creature's creed is possibly to die, as the sun was a vengeful beast, and it wanted the whole world to suffer. I can even see some of my comrades burning away, their corpses becoming as sapless as a husked leaf, and I know that the sun doesn't like anyone out here, it doesn't like anyone, and it doesn't like me, but I'm under a log, away from everything, away from the world, and away from the bitch known as the Forest Goddess, who showed us what hell was like and who told us we couldn't be who we wanted completely to be, because we would become delicacies to the Fire God, and I'll just cry, and sleep, until morning comes again. The fog keeps me moist, it keeps me happy, and I doubt those travelers would survive a day more, as I can hear the cry of the new age butterflies, and they are a-comin', and they want to make the air metallic and sharp and corpses stabbed. _Screeeeak. Screeeeak. Screeeeak._

Sonic thought that the heat was getting to him, that he could hear things and his brain was just as parched as his throat, but he heard that familiar sound, and he saw a pale winged insect with his reflection being refracted on its wings as it had the markings of a psychotic test, black splotches of paint that reached out to his head, and he felt one instinct. Amy tried not to whine about how long it's been since they had water and Rouge being her usual sullen ways, trying not to tell the world on why she really was here. But he knew he had to run now. Run. It was the only way he could get out of here, to get away from these hallucinogenic terrors. They were coming, and he could hear their horrid sounds coming from the distance, and he had to get out of this area, now, while he was still alive.

_Screeeeak. Screeeeak. Screeeeak._

He felt the air was getting harder, to where all the oxygen was becoming squeezed out, to where he could feel the jagged spikes coming, and he felt their proboscis near his ear, and they were coming, Forest Goddess damn it they were coming, these creatures made of metal and evil, and he had to tell the others to run, run, run!

"Rouge, Amy, let's get the hell out of here! The metallic butterflies are coming back! They're coming back! Run like hell, now!"

Sonic dashed briskly through the woods, cutting with his sword before he could even think, slicing the metallic butterflies and the bushes and trees, clearing the way, but they were coming even faster now, and they knew what Sonic said, and they were sure now that these animals weren't going to come to the dragonfly's heart alive, and they were going to feast on their bodies and suck their organs with a straw. _Screeeak! Screeak! Screak!_

Rouge held Amy's hand, and they began to run almost as fast as the wind in the late afternoon's breeze, as the butterflies gathered on the branches of the trees and covered it like a thick white blanket, and they made the world distort. So many birds that were on that tree, so many salamanders, so many other creatures that were around it, and they were stabbed, pierced, their bodies bleeding and feeling as if a sword was through it, slicing through their fragile organs and brains. They were killed almost immediately, but yet they were still alive as the butterflies sucked their body dry, and it was the last thing they saw before they were dead: a torture that some people might've considered to be beautiful, but no, when they were in the Forest Goddess' realm, they would fear butterflies for the rest of their lives, they would see their black marks as a man screaming as pure terror shot through this ink-blotted man before they were stabbed and the creatures drank them to their death, and their bodies were bare and simple skeletons, as they cleaned their skin and hearts and stomachs completely off, and they were still hungry, still starving, and they chased the bat and the two hedgehogs, wanting more. They wanted more flesh and organs to suck, more skeletons to scatter in the land, more bare bones to be littered across the world so they would know their name and their hunger. And the metallic butterflies were always hungry, always thirsty, and they were greedy, and they could never get enough to satisfy them. And satisfaction to them simply didn't exist. They always wanted more to suck, always wanted more to feast, always wanted more to suffer so they could try to shut out the bottomless stomach, but it always reached out to them and screamed that it needed more. They were nothing but greedy babies, but yet psychotic and able to kill anything, even their own mother that would try to please them.

The forest became a green blur to Amy as they ran fleetingly through, as she could hear the butterflies fluttering faster to their ears, but they always seemed to run at least inches faster. But only a few increments, as she could see that the butterflies could get so close to her that they could be tangled in her hair and while they would struggle through her quills her head could be pierced upon the spikes, right through her head, right through her brain. She knew that these butterflies have been improved upon, that they were much faster than they were before, that they were hungrier and thirstier and more deadly. Her heart crawled to her throat as she began to fear them more, these creatures that could've only been created from a delusion, a very serious psychosis, from a man that wasn't completely well, his head completely on fire with visions of God telling him to kill all the animals in this forest. She was terrified, and she no longer took notice of the sun anymore or the dragonfly's heart or anything that mattered to her for a few moments, as if they just suddenly vanished from the world, and she made the world completely dark because these small beasts were possibly the most wicked monsters she ever saw. And not even the demon that Sonic might grow to become was going to be as deadly as these creatures who picked the last small meat off a bird's bones and prepared to glide faster towards them, as she could see the small little teeth on their proboscis. And they droned closer, with their clawed hands and the ink stain of a jabbing knife on their alloyed, ghostly wings, and she wanted to cry so loud that she wanted the whole forest to hear her fear. She wanted them to hear how much she suffered since she was in these woods, and she wanted them to remember what happened to these woods before a tortured human thought he needed to kill all the creatures in these woods, and she missed her father and she wanted to head back to her home in their arms again, but it was too late, and in a few seconds, she was going to die.

So she did cry a loud scream, and the whole forest could nearly hear her. Even the East and West could hear her cry for help echoing throughout the woods, but they only thought it was the battle between the North and South, and it was business that they shouldn't be involved in. Business that their little noses shouldn't be sticking in.

As her legs began to be sore, as the butterflies ripped and tore through small ribbons of fabric off her clothes, she wished so much that she could be taken away by the good Sonic, the kind Sonic, the Sonic that she knew was inside that prince who used to call himself Reginald, but he seemed to have disappeared into the distance, into the green yonder. She couldn't see an end to all this green as the sun decided to no longer shine on this maddening scene of glints of white and a rush of hurrying feet, and she thought that they were running in the same path again and again, like they were reenacting the same scenes, and they would go on running forever. But she could see her childhood as they kept running, she could hear her father's voice speaking to her, telling her of a lullaby she heard as a child. And she thought on how nice it would be if she was in her father's arms again before she died, her one last comfort from this world. She could hear her father so clearly as she felt herself getting slower, her feet bloodied and in so much pain that she couldn't imagine running here anymore. She could see herself as a little girl and her father was cradling her in his arms, and she thought that this was the end of it all, as she could painstakingly hear his voice echoing throughout the woods. She knew that she was becoming a meal to the metallic butterflies, and that all her life, even if she knew and loved her father, she never had a hero. No one could come to her rescue this time. The hedgehog she loved was a demon now, and he was pulling away from her, further and further into this dank forest, and she thought the last thing she would see would be the sun turning into a bright shade of a bloody tangerine as her feet became slower, gradually coming into a near stop as the cicadas tried to warn her of her impending death, but she knew it was all too late. Her hero was slow, and dead. And she heard her father now, speaking to her.

"_Run Amy. Run. Even if your feet become bloodied stumps, run."_

She knew she was going to die. She thought that maybe she deserved to die because of how hopeless she felt, how weak and stupid and useless she was, how much she failed in making Sonic loved and into a normal hedgehog again. But she didn't realize herself that the butterflies were falling around her like ashes, like a fresh snow coming from the clouds, as they slowly fluttered to the ground, and the blue electrical shocks were beginning to paralyze them as they skit across their wings, as they shuffled in their small needle-like arms and prepared to curl up and die. She felt cold as they cringed and tried to fly again, but it was over. They were dead, and they were beginning to welcome death too, as they knew at this current state they were weak, stupid and useless, and they began to stop moving. They knew there was nothing left, no more blood and flesh and bones to feast on. They might as well just have their life end now. And before they knew it, they were dead. The last thing they saw before they died were eyes made of bloodied tangerine, and they looked like jewels being shined with the fires of hell. And they were glad they were dead when they prepared to die, as they glanced at the demonic hedgehog's face and realized that he was more of a monster than they could ever hope to be. Maybe they didn't want to be monsters after all. Maybe in the human's world, where they were created by a God made of flesh and blood, they would be chosen to do something else. Not kill and eat and drink till they were dead like this.

Sonic snarled as his jowls dripped with blood. His claws were sharp, gleaming in the late afternoon darkness, and his tail was poised, ready to kill. It was more heinous now, with its many protruding spikes and its fingers at the end reaching, even thinking of strangling Amy simply because it was in its way, but Sonic seemed to have controlled it enough to keep her safe. For now.

Even if Sonic was protecting Amy at this moment, she wanted to break down and sob. This wasn't the Sonic she always knew and fell in love with. This was the Sonic she kept trying to run and hide from, the one who warned he would kill her if she didn't reach the dragonfly's heart in time. He was becoming more and more of a demon, more of someone she truly didn't know and knew she would never be with, and she knew if she was with him any longer, she would die, and she would never see her father or even marry the man she truly wanted in her life. Oh, how stupid could she be? Why did she even think she could save him? She was just a whiny, stupid brat that would just get these two more and more into trouble! She should've just stayed with her father and married that stupid bore of a man! At least Sonic would still be alive…

But he wouldn't be. He was just different now. She knew that if it wasn't for her, Sonic would be dead. She saved him. She could've completely ignored him at the time and left him sick and dying in the swamp, but she knew that she couldn't leave someone dead, especially if she could've saved him. No, she could save Sonic at this time too. He was becoming more of a monster, but she would find the dragonfly's heart, and she would make him sane, happy, kind again. It was the only thing she could ever think of doing.

_Honey, I'll save you. I'll do whatever in my power to save you. You are everything to me now. I will make you the hedgehog you used to be. It's my destiny now. My Goddess-given destiny._

He attempted to wipe his fangs of the blood, as the butterflies continued to drift aimlessly through the air. They both couldn't think of anything to say as Amy tried to hide her tears from him, but Sonic could sense that the battle wasn't over. The forest was stirring again. It was becoming alive in the moonlight, as the white face commanded everything to arise and move again. He could feel more of something in the air, more creatures that wished to show their ugly heads to him. While the world cooled, more warm blood stirred in these creatures, and the air was making their brains become more awake and alive. The forest groaned, the wind was drafting fiercely, and his bloodied eye was still locked onto the things that were stirring as the moon began to climb up into the black silky night. These creatures that drank the moonlight in like fine wine, they wanted Sonic, and they wanted him dead.

The metallic butterflies were stirring, as they drifted aimlessly through the air, the wind gathering them in one place like discarded leaves that the trees knew they no longer wanted. They were slowly changing colors, as their sheen became a dark gray, then silver, then a matted blue, to the same cobalt blue Sonic's fur was. They were alive again, their wings being reminiscent of the oceans in the South Kingdom, and they formed, lumped together, small puzzle pieces that were being constructed as the madman made them into a larger, more blue, more terrifying butterfly, and they became the fine dust in the wings, metal shards that would cut anyone's finger if they tried to rub it between their fingers, like most antisocial boys did whenever they caught a butterfly in their hands. Its red eyes gleamed as it analyzed Sonic and saw all of the blood on his face and body and sword, and it wanted his blood too, it would stab him with the very air he was listening to in order to devour him. It flapped its wings rapidly, and the air began to solidify around him. He ran, with his newfound demon speed, and escaped, before he could be pierced.

Sonic held Amy by the hand as they whisked through the woods, her nearly out of breath and her feet feeling more and more bloodied. She thought she couldn't run anymore with how much her feet hurt as the bubbled skin continued to blister and peel away, but Sonic was giving her no choice in the matter, unless she was very sure she wanted to die. The butterfly was coming. It was quick, it was vengeful, it was wanting their bodies to feast on, and Sonic knew that the only thing he could really do was run to the ends of the woods, as he could hear it beating its wings. Amy knew however that they couldn't run forever. Even if Sonic's feet never grew tired, they had to go back and kill the butterfly, no matter how afraid of it they were, no matter if the afternoon becomes dusk, they had to kill it, for the entire safety of the forest. And she felt that she couldn't run anymore. She felt that like the blisters in her feet, her legs were going to burn and peel away as well, and she could nearly feel bleed until they were nothing but bloody carcasses. So she stopped, and held onto Sonic tightly.

"Wench, why are you making me stop? The butterfly is coming, and if we don't run quickly, it'll kill us!"

"We can't keep running from it Sonic. Remember when we fought that swamp dragon? We had to kill it, right? That's exactly what we have to do with this butterfly. We have to kill it, before it kills anyone else. We can't leave it here. We can't keep running away from a battle, leaving the rest of this forest to deal with it. We have to face it. It's as fast as you anyways, it'll eventually catch up. And you're the best hedgehog for the job. So it has to be slain. Please Sonic."

The butterfly tore through the trees, the blue metal glinting off the white knife of the moon, and the red eyes were gazing back at Sonic, requesting a challenge, a battle. It had to kill him, just to please its god, and maybe it would be taken to a better world than this one. But yet killing an animal easily was so boring to it. Although it was hungry and it wanted the meat off Sonic's bones, it still wanted a challenge. It still wanted to play for its prey.

And he knew now that "the wench" was right, and he had to stop running and kill the beast. The butterfly wasn't going to give up chasing him, as it thirsted for his very blood. It had to die, for the good of the forest. He wasn't going to have the delusional man who created him have a dead hedgehog body, no matter how much he desired it. Now he had to put his newfound demon abilities to the test, and his tail twitched when it heard in his head the very mention of battle and death. He darted to the butterfly, with his sword stretching out towards it, ready to peel off the steel and metal and crush its gears and cogs. The butterfly rapidly flapped its wings for a moment, as if it was assessing the situation carefully, then it dodged the attack, and prepared to harden the air around him by flapping its scales rapidly. Sonic could smell the scent of the oxidizing air, and he stepped back, before his body could get stabbed. The butterfly continued to flutter near the bright, glowing trees, the metal shining as the blue and pink lights made it seem like the very same tungsten lights in the human's cities. Sonic sat, smelling the air to be sure that it wasn't becoming steel, and he ran back towards it, swiping.

The butterfly swiftly dropped off the trunk of the tree and the butterflies gathered near the base of its body, little small sheets of pink light flowing like a river, away from the sword as if he was striking water. This butterfly seemed to be like water, fluidly ploying from his sword, as the stream continued to rush rapidly towards him and trying to stab him with its own swords, its own small antennae. Sonic leaned back, his neck nearly stricken with his own blood, and he swiped again. A few butterflies fell from its wings, cringing and curling up, but the azurite butterfly was still alive as the moonlight continued to stir it, and it flapped its scaly wings again. The wind rushed around him, the leaves and twigs of the forest being lifted and gathering around him, as he could see small particles of dust and blue fragments that looked very much like glitter, and it collected in his throat and lungs, and he began to cough. His eyes were irritated, burning and urging him to rub and scratch them, and he was temporarily blinded. He could see the butterfly preparing to stab him through his teary eyes, and he jumped back, but was too stunned to attack. He felt as if his mouth was beginning to blur around the edges, feeling numb, as if it was going to drop from his face suddenly, and he even held onto it, wishing it wasn't going to melt. His mind was drifting, thinking of other things other than this killer butterfly, and he wasn't sure whether he was becoming crazy or not. He couldn't even think that possibly the butterfly's scales were making him dissolve away from reality, and he thought that suddenly he wanted to pick at his skin and get rid of all the maggots that were crawling inside his body and drilling away and eating every morsel of his flesh, and he cried loudly as he wanted to suddenly tear his fur away from his skin, because it was making him itch and making him bleed.

Rouge gazed at the distance, hearing of a loud puncturing cry that reverberated in her ears. She thought she could see Sonic in the forest, the blur of blue fur becoming more prominent, but the cry sounded so familiar to her, as if it was reaching into her mind and pulling out some twisted memory that she wished she could forget. And it was, she realized. It was pulling apart that memory and making it more clear to her, the dream that she wished she could escape from and never again see it with her own brain.

Her husband.

Dead.

With maggots crawling through his eyes, eating all the white liquids and making him bleed with black blood.

And as the image was becoming bigger for her, more ugly every time her mind tried to pull her closer to it, she wanted to throw up.

She could hear the cry becoming louder in the stretch of the woods, screaming so harshly to her large ears, and she thought she could even hear the maggots eating through his skin and the bugs and beetles swarming around him, and she thought she could even smell the decay and the shit. She huddled the gun close to her chest and prepared to run, ramming all the powder inside it, as she heard this specter call her name. And she thought she could even hear it claim that Knuckles was going to die if she didn't become closer to the source of the sound.

_Come here Rouge. I said come here! Knuckie boy is going to die if you don't come here! Come one, come all, to the blackened flesh of Knuckles, the husband of Mistress Rouge of the Western Kingdom! Tickets are five copper coins each, quite inexpensive, and you can see this dead man for yourself! Children get in free! Hurry up lady, you're going to miss all the excitement!_

The trigger was inching closer to her. She was going to kill this bastard. No one was going to mess with her Knuckies. Nobody. And her heart began to beat almost in an arrhythmic beat, as it crawled into her throat, and she thought she could even taste all the blood that was escaping from it. Her hands were drenched with sweat, and the trigger couldn't come any closer without firing. And the gun began to rattle almost so loud that she thought the entire woods could hear it. And her sobs.

Sonic's sword was glowing a clear white, almost translucently, near the moon, and he stared at this butterfly that was resting its wings near the tree, its proboscis flickering near the trunk. It was watching. Waiting. With its cinnamon-glazed eyes. The wings were slowly growing in the light, the wings expanding, sharpening and warm and red that reminded Sonic of heat-wrought iron, and they pointed towards the clear black night, becoming as sharp as long, thick arrows. It gathered more of the butterflies towards it like a newly bloomed flower that they had to get to quickly, as it stood and watched Sonic's moves. It coldly calculated, strategizing on what it had to do next, as the butterflies continued to flow fast throughout him, but it thought if it had a mouth, it would smile and laugh on how Sonic seemed to think his skin had leeches attached to it. He couldn't help but stop and scratch so much that his skin was becoming red and bloody, and the butterflies began to salivate through their proboscis, knowing that their bottomless stomachs could be satisfied for a few moments soon. The butterfly flailed its wings and charged towards him, its tongue nearly tasting of the blood, the air becoming more cold and metallic that it felt like sharp icicles to his skin. And he could feel it bleeding more and more.

And he realized that in this forest, where it was so hot today that he thought him and Amy were going to collapse under the sun's weight, small icy flakes of the sky were drifting towards the ground, and the world around him became parched and dead. The grass was a pale yellow and the trees' glowing orbs became black and gray, like the ice that the world was becoming. It was snowing, small flakes of the cloud's skin were drifting towards him, his breath becoming visible in the cold air, and it was somehow winter. It was rarely winter in these woods. So to suddenly shift between a day that was as hot and thirsty as a desert that was near the humans and then to a cold winter, he thought that the weather was possibly crazy, as if it forgot where it was at, and where the wind blew and what the world's climate really was. It was bipolar. He shivered under the weather's ice, as the butterfly hardened the air around him, and as the stinging thorns were beginning to pierce him. He ran again, blood beginning to run down his sides and face as he got away from the beast. It felt even more penetrating to him from the frosty world, but he could only ignore it. He couldn't tend to it.

The butterfly made of glossy glass and sheet metal struck his sword with its drill-like antennae, trying to pierce through his body and to make his body's organs scrambled, the eyes continued to glare at him, so much more visible in the arctic night. Sonic's sword blocked them, making small dents in the steel, and he shivered as the snow built up so quickly, the drifts gathering on the ground and on the branches like cold blankets. The wind was chilled, and the wings were reminding him not of heat-wrought iron, but iron that was frozen under a thick layer of ice, completely rock solid like the steel that was under it, a glass stone. The wings were transforming from cobalt to solid white, skeletons of frost and ice like a snowflake. Light blue orbs were glowing on the patterns on the insect, becoming crystals in the sheet of frozen metal. There were faint gray lines drawn on the wings, and he thought he couldn't admit it, but his foe was actually strangely beautiful as he watched it form under the winter's snow, and it felt comforting to watch it flit to one tree to the other, instead of looking like a dark psychological terror that he thought this butterfly originally was. Now it was something he couldn't take his eyes off, and he sat dazed, watching the snow flurry to the earth and the butterfly watching him back, as if it was also just as strangely fascinated with him.

They both were respecting each other under the winter's night, astounded by their allure. Sonic felt now that he wanted to touch it, to see if its wings were really made out of fresh fallen snow, and he could feel it between his fingers and feel the burning sensation of the cold. He was a curious child now, wanting to touch everything in this world, to see if it really was alive and fresh in his vision. He even wanted to reach out for his breath and touch it, to see if it would suddenly become a solid thing for him to feel, to grasp the warm air slip between the cracks of his hands. It was getting darker the more he watched the butterfly, and now he wished that the sky was incandescent again. His blood felt it was going to solidify under the cold, and he forgot for a moment's notice he was cold-blooded, as he was transforming more and more into this lizard beast. If he didn't do something about the butterfly he thought, he would die here, freezing to death. He could sense at least one rational thought as it shot through his head that possibly the butterfly was creating this cold wintry night, and even if this butterfly was astounding in its beauty, he had to give it death and rob it of that, making it ugly and pale. He forgot the real reason the butterfly had to die, and even the memory of Amy slipped through his head. He could see her in the moon's light, hiding, but he couldn't remember her name. The pink hedgehog couldn't register in his head.

He sliced through the butterfly's wings, feeling the soft blow of the snow gale in his face, the creature screaming in pain. The small butterflies plummeted to the ground, and a hinge of its wings were torn off, as if Sonic was that same antisocial boy who wanted to see it revel in pain as it was temporarily paralyzed, the wind unable to breeze through its frosty scales. It resorted to the earth, the antennae and wings ready to stab through his skin and body, but at that moment, he suddenly didn't care about dying. He didn't care about being stabbed or to become a corpse for the whole forest to see. He huddled himself, trying to ignite the warmth in his body like the human-made lighters, but he felt his scaly fur become so cold it bit into his skin, and his heart, the fire within it, was dulling, nearly becoming ashes, the murmurs suddenly nearly inaudible through his chest. He could feel himself dying and becoming closer to the Forest Goddess' realm every minute, every second, and he shivered, curling himself from the butterfly as if he didn't want to fight anymore and was now too terrified and weak to move. He no longer cared for the wars and the battles and the demonic body he had, but now, he wished that he was back home, with his mother and father, being loved and warm and no longer this hideous beast he felt himself he was now. He wished he could peel away the scales, he wished the demonic claws were only gloves, and he wished that his face and eyes were only a mask, and he could be back with his family, in his parent's arms, no longer worried about being dead in the woods.

Back to the warm kingdom, with his mother cradling him when he was young, singing him the song that he briefly remembered through his blackened mind. Why was it so blackened? He wasn't sure, and he wasn't even sure of how he became as cold as this winter night, but he wanted to return home and apologize to all of his family. And to become a good prince again. And lead the South Kingdom in a treaty for peace with the North. Because after all, maybe the North wasn't so bad. He was just angry that his daughter was dead, but if they could explain on what really happened to her…

His mind continued to flicker under the winter's frozen breath. He felt himself drifting away, and the world was becoming nothing but a flashing light.

…_What really happened to her…_

…_What…happened…_

…_And…maybe the angel's larks will sing…_

_And the dragonfly's heart will…keep us safe…_

…_Under love's very undying…_

…_Wake…_

…_Of the flaming eyes…_

…_And the heart is so ripe…_

…_With decay…_

His body was casted with metal, very much like the butterfly, and his heart for a moment was no longer a machine, but made of fabric and wires. He couldn't even see the beast anymore, but just the pitch black darkness that was consuming him, ready to eat all of his meat and bones, and he wasn't afraid. He was ready to accept his fate as his vision was ready to become opaque and his body was ready to cease shuddering and give out his very heart and soul to the Goddess. He was praying under the very small light, a twitching sun, that was in the middle of this darkness that he thought was so similar to the galaxies he heard when his father was teaching him all about this world. He was actually interested in this so-called galaxy and space, but his father didn't know very much about it and decided to no longer teach him any more. He was here now, in the middle of the void, with so many stars that looked like blades that were ready to cut through this dark blanket like shears, thinking it was the final place people went to when they were ready to die, the very border between the Goddess' realm and the world underneath this one. His body was ready to be taken by

Death, ready to be seized by the fire's tongues of Hell, knowing that he wasn't such a good person after all. He was going to go to another realm, one that everyone warned him about, one that his father told him all about when he was younger, on how the king of the North would be going to this fiery prison, and if he was good he would be taken to the galaxies and be printed in the sky as stars and everyone would know his name and story. Everyone would hear of Prince Sonic and how he has slain the swamp dragon made by the hated humans and how he fell when battling this contraption of icy wings and fiery eyes, and the Goddess was pleased by his efforts, except when he soon hated his father and everyone else in the world. But there was one person he thought that maybe…he did love her, and he could feel the very small remnants of the memory of the song he heard through her melodic heart when they were introducing themselves to the King of the North and Princess Rose. He thought that maybe they had a connection, and that maybe, they could bring the kingdoms together. He thought his younger self had this dream of having all the kingdoms living in peace and showing the humans that they could all get along and live in a nice society, a greater utopia than most kingdoms in the human world, and he could piece the whole world together, and he could fix it after it was shattered at the very beginning of time. And they could face the end of it with each other.

And as his body was slowly decaying and his heart's fire was beginning to be snuffed out and become a wicker of smoke, the black suddenly turned to white, like sunlight filling a hole like water. His eyes were dazed as the stars disappeared and cut the whole universe to a white canvas, and he could see crystalline wings, looking much like jewels and much like the kind and loving dragonfly's, on a pink hedgehog. She flitted to him, carrying something in her arms in a white blanket, cradling it like it was an infant. And maybe it was. Maybe he was seeing his future with the princess he knew he fell in love with, and maybe his secret dreams were going to come true.

His vision was becoming darker by the minutes, a murky puddle. His body felt like the light was holding it down and putting it in locks, but he could still plainly see her, with the white rose in her hair, her green eyes flickering like malachite, and the silver of the thing she was holding in her arms, neatly tucked away. He could feel the last beats in his heart thumping, as the blood was beginning to turn into lead, the glow of it becoming dimmer, knowing that this was what exactly she wanted, and he had to give it to her, as he laid here, dying and choking on his very last breaths.

"Here Rose! Take it! Please take it! I'm begging you to take it! The thing I've never told you before, when I've been this cold self, this almost completely dead person with a functioning body but no life in my eyes…that I love you. And I've always loved you, right when I had my eyes on you. So you have to take my heart, whatever is last of it, and do with it as you please. Store it somewhere, eat it, stomp on it, I don't care, as long as you take it away from this evil body and let everyone know that you can still be alive but still be dead, a walking contradiction, a hideous creature that I knew the humans outside of this world always wanted to destroy. Please let the goddess take me and let me no longer suffer of this cold heart, and please let me be my true self, the person I was when I was newborn. Take it away, and let everyone know that love isn't always true, isn't always fulfilled, doesn't always end in a fairy tale ending, and that sometimes, it can only be a lie and the closest thing to death. Take it."

She nodded calmly, as if death was a normal occurrence to her and he was just another passerby complaining of "his old bones starting to fade away". She nodded, slowly, surely, the silver child rearing its head so suddenly, not with a smile and a laugh or a cry, but the wish that he was dead, her child made of gun powder and steel. It looked like the gun that Sonic knew he kept away from Rouge, and she ignited the powder inside it, the flames reacting and the bullet beginning to fly as she pulled the trigger, ripping through Sonic's heart with no sign of remorse on her face, no sadness, but only with great tranquility as suddenly the darkness overtook him, and he was sent away to a far off place. A place that he knew wasn't much like this strange world with goddesses that wanted him dead, and maybe in this next world, he would be treated with love.

Sonic awoke, his head and his body completely covered with sweat, his sword lying next to him, with no sign of the butterfly. There was no snow, no coldness in the air, and it felt as humid as it used to be. It was still night, the moon smiling in his face. He saw Amy Rose with Rouge's gun in her arms, cradling it much like in his dream, and he could also see that there was no sign of the bat anywhere, disappearing into the air that was no longer going to be full of steel and needles. There was no sign of anything he last saw before he went to the ends of space and felt himself dying. He lifted his sword, discovering that his other arm was now arranged in a set of deep sea turquoise scales and with claws as sharp as machetes, almost as long as his very legs. He eyed the small puddle on the forest floor that was nearly dried up with the night's heat, seeing that both of his eyes were an audacious red, as bright as this moon in the sky, with black clear slits that looked reptilian, as if he came from the East Kingdom. He didn't recognize, however, was that his heart was stone cold once again, and when he was away from the world, he felt it open, like someone sliced through it, and it gushed with all these feelings for his past and this girl he thought he loved. Well, whoever she was, he didn't give a damn about her. She could rot for all he cared.

"You're awake Sonic," Amy said, wiping away her tears at the contours of her eyes, hoping he wouldn't notice. "I would celebrate you being alright, and I know you're the one who gives orders, but we have to leave, now. This situation we're in, it's not good. At all. If we stay here, we could be dead. Especially you."

He ignored his sudden transformation. For now. "What happened wench? Where was the butterfly? Why did it suddenly become winter? Where is the batty bitch? What happened here?"

"The butterfly…Sonic, I'm still not sure how it all happened, but…" She paused, trying to piece the odd and sudden event together. "You were fighting it, when suddenly, you passed out, and Rouge came along and fought it and tried to shoot it with her gun, but when the butterfly was making her act…really weird for some reason, I took her gun and I killed it. Maybe you would think I actually did something right in this little journey after all."

"You actually killed something, wench? I don't say this very often, and I really don't want to say it but…nice job. I guess. But what happened to bat girl? She was here a while ago, right?"

"Well, maybe it was on account of the butterfly, but she kept telling me that you were dead and we should've left you in the forest so we're not carrying around a carcass, and I said no, we couldn't do that, and that you were still alive…And well, we got into this big argument that suddenly, I got very angry, and I said that if she was going to tell my father about me I was going to shoot her point-blank, like that, and I wouldn't even bury her or anything and this whole dragonfly's heart plan would be done. And I actually did try to shoot her, because she kept saying that she was going to do it because she didn't want me to kill someone named Knuckles, but that was the first time I ever used a gun, and she was really fast, so she escaped before I can fire one shot at her. But we have to leave now Sonic, or else my father's men would be after us. Now we have to really speed up finding the dragonfly's heart."

"So she broke the promise already? That's pretty expected of women. Can't trust them." He shook his head. "But I don't expect you to protect me any longer, Princess. As you can see, I'm slowly becoming more and more into this beast, and if you're with me any longer, I'm probably going to kill you." He couldn't help but find the situation humorous. Such dramatic irony. He chuckled, then continued. "So you could probably leave me to die. I honestly don't care. I can be left to the pigs and I could care less. Leave me be, Rose. There's nothing you can do for me, so you might as well let the king's men find me here and make them do what they want with me. You should leave yourself out of the political business between the North and South, it's nothing but a sticky little business that I have to be killed for."

"No Sonic…" His eyes turned to her. The small hedgehog was trying very hard to be calm and poised, but it was plainly evident that there were tears in her eyes and her fists were tightly clenched, her knuckles becoming a blushed red. "I can't leave you here to die. I saved you…and you're my responsibility now. I will continue to save you. Because there's a reason I have to give you the dragonfly's heart Sonic. The thing is…" She sniffled, brushing the sudden stream of tears away. "

I want it for you. I want you to eat it. So you can be cured of this transformation. And you can be like your old self. I can tell you're hurt Sonic. The old self is still inside you. Something happened that made you this way. And I want to reverse it. I want to make it all better for you."

"Ha! You're sticking your little nose into business that you shouldn't stick noses in. I'm going to be a demon little miss princess, and there's not much you can do, so you might as well just leave me here by myself. You're a woman. You can't possibly change a thing. Besides, I treat you like the pond scum in the swamps. Why do you think you need to take care of me? If I was met with myself, I would leave myself here, hell, maybe I'd kill him." The tears in her eyes still didn't stop him from chuckling again. Which made her crying worse, but she really tried to conceal it, trying to suppress them back into her body.

Even if he was cold and scaly, she reached over and hugged him tightly, even if she felt his nails about to tear her muddy and ruined dress.

"Because I love you. That's the only reason I need, Sonic. I love you."

She thought she would see him with a disgusted and fanged face that would tell her to get away from him and that he was ready to die, nothing you could do to make him better and make him the man he used to be, ready for his heart to be snuffed out, but she saw the face of Sonic's old self, his green eyes and his radiant smile shining back at her. His fur was no longer hardened and full of scales and his hands were no longer sharp nails, but actual fleshed hands that wanted to reach out and hug her too.

"I love you too, Amy. There are no words or feelings for what you're making me feel right now. You're such a strong girl, you know that? You don't seem to realize it, but I know there's a lot of strength inside you. No matter what I say, I want you to keep going, keep testing your limits, and find the dragonfly's heart. I don't want to die Amy. Not when I met such a lovely girl like you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And I mean that."

She cried against his body, feeling him patting and rubbing her back tenderly. She wished that Sonic would stay this way forever. Because he was truly a beautiful person she wanted to be with, and she wanted to fulfill his wish and live her entire life with him. He was just hurt, damaged, sharded. Suffering from the case of the blackened heart. And she would find his cure, even if her life would escape from her lips the further they traveled in these woods. She would do anything to make him better again. Whatever it was going to take to make his heart the same color as solid gold. A solid gold pearl that needed to be pried out of this shell he was cursed with.

But when she looked up, Sonic was back to his cold self, gazing at her, irritated. But whatever got him to understand that she wasn't going to leave him to die in this forest, he let go of her hold and continued to walk down the path.

"Alright, fine. We'll go. I still think this is matters you shouldn't be involved in, but obviously you're not going to listen to me. Women like you seem to be born deaf and dumb. Let's go."

She didn't know why, but as he walked, she caught up to him and held his claws. But it wasn't a claw when she held it lovingly in her fingers, as she didn't felt anything prick her. She felt his fingers curling up with hers, and she could feel the warmth pass between the both of them, as if their roots were connecting, like the blue and pink trees that were glowing on the white crested night like lanterns.

And he smiled back at her, his grip becoming tighter, as he sung the song Amy sung to him many times, and they went down the path happily and they never felt more secure of anything like this in their lives.

If they were both going to die in this war, they might as well go out in passionate flames.


	15. Chapter 15

The gun rested between her chest and her arms, the silver glint shining off in the sharp moonlight that looked too much to her like a slit in a serpent's eye. The weather was still hot, her brow sweating as she traversed between the forest, seeing the blue blur of Sonic chasing after this metallic insect, ready to kill it with the sharp swipes of his sword. She wasn't sure how Sonic could run and not be exhausted in the forest heat, constantly, back and forth, like a ticking metronome, one that she felt was possibly going to melt sooner or later, much like Dali's clocks. It was probably the demonic blood in his heart that was keeping him running like this. She knew.

She pressed the gun closer to her, she could see the metallic butterfly's wings, shining an azure glare in the distance. She only knew of these butterflies since she's been with Sonic and Amy. Apparently from the clear shock and fear in their faces, this was a creature that they loathed and were greatly afraid of, especially a much bigger one such as this. She could see the rotting man's face in its wings, as he screamed his very last breath and tried to pry the light off the air, his eyes sucking all it could see before he died. That was her Rorschach test. That was what her mind made of the images in the butterfly's sheet metal. She could see the scales so clearly, made up of thousands of other metallic butterflies, who wanted to only see these two hedgehogs scream as much as the man in their wings.

But she knew she couldn't let that happen. She thought she would keep Amy alive and it was her mission to keep her breathing. For now. She thought she would try to get as much use as she could possibly get out of her. Squeezing all of that use until she was completely dry like a wedge of a lemon. That was her plan. Keep Princess Amy Rose alive until she knew she was as dried up as the day in this forest, and that was when she could use the final blast of her gunpowder. Everything to keep hubbie alive. She would make all these bad people go away and make him so healthy he would be as strong as the demonic-like Sonic. She would sing him sweet lullabies and pray he would have a goodnight sleep before the wicked Forest Goddess thought it was time for him to go. But no, no one could take her sweet hubbie away. No one, and they would see her gun first before they even tried to take him away from her.

_And now I lay down my head to sleep_

She dashed through the woods, the butterfly and Sonic becoming closer to her, so much that her eyes could nearly touch them. Sonic was lying on the ground, shivering, weeping, and his sword was on the ground, with no instance of butterfly blood. Only his. He covered himself with his hands, trying to keep himself warm, when already the climate was so hot that Rouge was already sweating when she only ran a few yards into the battlefield, that she wondered why this blue creature would suddenly be so cold that only his hands could provide warmth. This was impossible for her to comprehend. How could one be so frozen on a day like this? She could even feel her skin melting and peeling even when the sun hid its face away from the world, but yet its warm rays were still tangible in this darkness. However, this battle was her job now, and the butterfly would be her kill to make. Amy seemed as hidden as the sun, but she didn't mind her sudden disappearance. As long as she wasn't dead that was all she cared about in the moment. She cocked the gun to the creature, its antennae and wings wavering on a glowing blue orb tree, the wings now turning into a dark bluish-gray from the light.

"It was a nice life, wasn't it? You were born beautiful, you were born to kill, and now that your glorious few seconds are up, it's time for you to die. Life is sometimes that way sweetie, and I'm sorry, but the Forest Goddess likes to destroy all the pretty lives. It makes her feel special. It makes her feel pretty. And maybe in the afterlife you will too. I'm sorry to bring you those news, but sometimes that's just how it is. Goodbye, you damnable beast. May the humans never give birth to something the likes of you again."

_Pray the lord my soul to keep_

Her eyes dimmed, shrinking, becoming nearly small slits that would remind her of the moon in this night. Her gun was now quaking in her arms, as she saw not a beast she hated and wanted to bring upon its death, but someone that she loved and wanted to bring upon him as much life as she could.

"Rouge, I'm sick. Very sick. Please help me Rouge. Please help me."

She lowered her gun. She wasn't sure how Knuckles got to this part of the woods by himself, especially with how weak his legs were. But she believed it all the same that it was him. Her sweet hubbie. Her darling. Her sweet source of sanity. "Knuckles…I'm sorry you're sick darling. I'm trying. I'm trying my best dear. You know that I am."

"But it's not good enough Rouge. I'm dying. I'm slowly withering away, no quickly, no almost I am nothing but a shrunken flower. There's nothing you can do to save me Rouge. It's all hopeless. You're hopeless. Help me. Somebody, help me!"

He fainted to the ground upon saying _help me_, and his body soon became nothing but a dry husk, his mouth open as he tried to breathe out his last scream. His skin was wrinkled, like a shriveled gourd, a black centipede crawling through the two holes beginning to eat out his eyes, and the black blood seeped from his sockets and into his mouth as the last sweet wine he would ever drink, and the worms tried to salvage everything they could of his body, as every last bit of moisture was sucked out. Rouge tried to cover her sobs and her high-pitched screaming, but her hands just simply weren't heavy enough. They were audible in the entire forest, the only one who couldn't hear was Sonic, who continued to cover himself and mumble and shiver.

_If I die before I wake_

She thought that she might as well die, as her husband was dead, and there was simply nothing for her to live for now. She couldn't imagine her life without him, without any of the people that she loved who also died of the same illness. She was sure if she even loved Sonic and Amy, they would die of the illness as well. Everything she touched and loved would die by her hands, slowly, surely, and she couldn't stand having that kind of existence no longer, a dealer of death who could slowly make anyone she wanted dead suffer and become paralyzed. There was no reason for her to go on. She might as well try to kill herself. She had her gun to blast her brain through. She had her knives to cut her wrist to make a small pool of blood to cool herself from the forest heat. There was nothing more for her to live for. All the single threads of light were completely gone from her life. It was too dark for her to see. The Forest Goddess might as well have her now and she could live in the afterlife with Knuckles. She would be happy there. Happy and free.

Her hands groped to find her gun, when suddenly she heard a gunshot, one that didn't sliced through her brain, and an inhumane scream, and a fluttering of birds and cries and she saw many silhouettes in the night sky. The world was spinning around for her so fast that she couldn't catch anything with any of her senses. She tried to speak, but her sobbing made her voice inaudible, sounding more like a high-pitched groan coming from an infant.

_May the lord have my soul to take_

As her vision cleared, she no longer saw Knuckles' dead body. There were no centipedes, no shrunkenness, no hopelessness. She could see the moon was glazing over what seemed to be hope: Amy with Rouge's gun, and the butterfly's wings full of blood and guts and the eyes no longer ruby and radiant. She couldn't think of how this princess who never used a gun in her life would figure out how to use a gunpowder gun without it exploding in her face. Maybe it was nothing but a fluke. Flukes tended to happen to this small princess a lot. If she never met her prince, she would've been dead a long time ago.

Sonic was broken of his daze, as he realized the night was hot and he didn't need his hands to become blankets, laying down on the earth. Rouge gazed at her hands, shaking with a tremor that reminded her of the quakes in the West, and her breath was coming out in hurried wisps of air. The quakes in the West were happening to her body.

Her head still couldn't grasp the world at hand, seeing it move so fast that everything seemed nothing but bleeds of color and faces and words. It hurt too. She held it tenderly in her hands, and she thought she was going to cry and throw up. She tried to keep her composure with the prince and princess, but it was impossible. She might as well make them think she was a mad woman who needed to be locked up in an asylum. What she would give to have that happen right now.

Her head kept screaming to her that if she let them walk with her any longer, they would kill Knuckles. Knuckles will die if she only gives them half of the dragonfly's heart. They will kill him with Sonic's sharp knifed claws and with a snicker and a grin. They would laugh as he screamed and tell Rouge that she always was a terrible wife. So much so, she no longer needed a husband to love. _"On my my, Knuckles never was the type for you anyways, dear. There's more fish in the sea. You just need one who wouldn't die with your touch!"_

"Rouge, are you alright? Rouge? Are you okay?"

Amy was wavering her hand over her eyes, seeing no reaction of any kind. There were no wounds of any kind on Rouge, but her breath was quick, her hands shook so much like the summer suddenly became winter, that she could only think that she was in a state of psychological shock.

_So the butterfly got to her too. I have to try to snap her out of this. Maybe she can help me with Sonic. Maybe if we get back in one piece we can look for the dragonfly's heart again. And we can cure their illnesses. Sonic from transforming into a demon, and Rouge from living with these memories that seem to be…_

Her eyes grew a little bigger, now into focus with the two of them, but she was still distant, still traumatized from seeing her dead husband becoming a near reality. Her head couldn't think but only of the fear of her husband being dead when she returned home, and she knew now she couldn't play any more silly games, she couldn't slow down with these two having their own personal dramas. Who cares about their drama? Someone she truly loved was close to death, while Sonic was just going to become some demon that she was sure wouldn't be worth the trouble to cure. She never liked the South Kingdom anyways. Or the North. She wished it was only the West and East actually. So she would never hear about these two kingdom's measly little troubles again when hers just felt so much bigger, that it would eat her alive if she didn't tend to it.

"Amy…you're not going to take the dragonfly's heart for yourself, right?" she asked, in a heaving voice as she tried to control her breath's speed.

"Of course not Rouge. You said we had a promise to separate it once we found it, right? And you can't break the promise we had so easily. I swear…"

"No, you don't." Her hands still quivered, her eyes flickered back and forth. Amy knew that this was the look of someone who was deeply paranoid. She heard of her father talking about these type of people before. And now she understood them fully.

"No, you don't swear! No, you're going to take everything away from me! Don't you see? Don't you see on how hard times are out there? And that in another few years this dragonfly's heart will grow again, but not a year sooner? I know you want Sonic to fully recover from his stolen heart, and I know you're planning to do anything that can make that happen. Because Amy, when you're in love, you do crazy things, even breaking a dragonfly's promise when you find the heart."

"What are you talking about?" she yelled. She knew she couldn't handle someone with paranoia either. She couldn't stand someone making any kind of accusation against her. Especially if they were false. "I'm not taking the fruit away from you, and I don't love Sonic! You hear me? Sonic is just a bitter prince who will never love anyone, but yet I need to help him, because I don't turn down anyone who needs help!"

"Oh really? Because Sonic doesn't seem to really want your help. It seems like he's turning _you_ down. If you weren't lying to me, then you would go on with me without Sonic, and just leave him here in the woods and let him fend for himself. He's strong Amy, and he said he didn't need anyone, right? Or else…"

"And what if I didn't want to leave him? He deserves my help as much as anyone else, whether he's bitter or not. I can tell there's a good person inside of Sonic who is begging me to get rid of his demon body, so that's what I'll try to do. Trying to find the dragonfly's heart and making an effort is better than making none at all, and it shows that even though I'm banished from the North Kingdom, I will try to be the best damn princess I can be and help anyone who needs it. That's what a good princess does, right?"

She laughed heartily, almost maniacally as the insanity flowed freely in her head, as she remembered that she needed help too, and this too-goody princess wasn't going to give her any as long as she was in Sonic's way. This wasn't how love worked. It was only a two-way street. No time for a third one.

"Well, hear me out miss princess, I'm going to report your lover boy here that you're with the prince of the South Kingdom, and he's slowly turning into a monster because he gave his heart to the Hearts and Dreams witches, and boy, will your father love to hear such a thing! I heard he's sending out men to find you right now, and if I tell him about where you are and who you're with…he's as good as dead and you'll be back in the North Kingdom, living out your luxurious life and no longer hearing the screams of the desperate and needy. Because you would have everything you could ever want in the world, and when you have so much money and everything at your fingertips…" She laughed again, as Amy heard something go _clink _that seemed to come from her hands. She could see a white glare in the dark, but her mind couldn't rationalize as Rouge continued to speak.

"Those screams just sound so silent now, don't they? Don't worry, you're just like the rest of them. Greedy, selfish, and a pig with a belly full of money and gold once you get a knife like this and you cut it up and let it scream for a while until you slash its throat."

The _clink_.The silver in the moonlight. She was holding a knife close to her throat, ready to split her throat like a harlequin's smile. She knew fully of her situation now: this Rouge, who she thought would be her friend and would help her find the dragonfly's heart, was now threatening her and was ready to kill her and Sonic on the spot if she didn't let her take the heart for herself. She was afraid for a moment, believing her journey with Sonic was going to end right here, as she almost forgot that she was holding onto Rouge's gun. She was only lucky when she shot the butterfly, she knew. It was already filled with gunpowder and was ready to be triggered. She couldn't possibly kill Rouge right here. But she had no other choice. If she didn't make any kind of move, she would be slashed like her dear sister almost so long ago.

There was only one way to find out.

"How about you get out of here now before I shoot? I'll give you a good five second start before I begin to blast your head through." Rouge was face to face with the narrow mouth of the gun, Amy pumping the gun with the powder already in it. "You better start running mistress, if you have any loved ones you want to see before you're sent to hell."

Rouge remembered when she killed the butterfly. The gigantic behemoth of metal and silver and ivory…killed by the princess who suddenly knew how to use her gun, as if it was her innate nature. Her pupils became smaller, becoming the slight scratch of the moon again, as she could only think that if she died here by the blast of her gun, her sweet hubbie would only think of this as a suicide, and he wouldn't mind the illness he already had and he would kill himself too…oh the things this cruel princess would do! She would feed her own heart if she only had the chance!

"You got lucky, miss too-goody princess. Next time we meet, your throat is slit like the pig you are, and I'm taking all the cash and gold like a human's pinata. You better prepare yourself."

Amy pushed the powder inside as quick as she could, nearly sneering as she imagined her face exploding like an erupt volcano once she could fire off the ball in the gun. Rouge smirked, taunting the little princess before she quickly sprung to the far edges of the woods as if she wasn't really a bat but a rabbit dashing away from a wils-eyed grinning coyote, and Amy couldn't wait to see her dead, her little rabbit feet no longer running and springing like coils in a machine. This was one cold machine she didn't want to see running again, especially if it was made like the metallic butterfly. She pressed the trigger and expected to see her demise, her corpse on the ground, and she thought she would be so happy, so satisfied with her kill.

_Boom!_

And she was satisfied that the bat-rabbit didn't see this.

She was blasted away a few feet, her hair astray like she was the Medusa from ancient Greece and her face black with marks of charcoal that seemed to make her even more beast-like. The black serpent who thought she was going to get her meal but only it ate its own tail as it got away. What a satisfying end she thought.

The gun soared above her, as the silhouettes of birds and bats that were frightened by the sound flew across the blue streaked sky, the moon gazing at it with its sharp white face that made the metal glint in her eyes. With a loud _clink_ (relieved that the gun didn't suddenly fire off on its own), Sonic awoke in a stupor, mumbling and blabbering in a language she couldn't understand, his eyes looking glazed with exhaustion and confusion._ Of course_, she thought. _Sonic. I'm glad she didn't want to try to slit his throat too._

Time was so fragile now, reminding her of a clock made of blue china. They couldn't bear to waste a few seconds, making small little pieces shatter off the mantelpiece, or else her father's men would arrive, taking the Southern hedgehog and placing him in a cage and waiting for his big finale like in a circus ring and he was the ringmaster that wanted the audience to put their full attention on him, and with the uncovering of the curtains, they would reveal him in the cage like a tiger about to be put in a trial of jumping through hoops of fire, and before he could make one single move, one single trial to keep him alive for even a few measly minutes, her father would have the amends to shoot him himself, making his entire life seeming like nothing but just one big sideshow. The greatest show on Earth that was only a sad tragedy that no one but her would be able to understand, a story that even scholars couldn't understand.

And Sonic was becoming so much to her than that. She wanted to prove to him that life was worth living and enjoying, that he himself was a creature that could be loved and not put up as a freakshow like so many people seemed to have treated him in the past. Maybe the white bat was right. Maybe she did love him, despite his major flaws. She knew there was more to him than his bitterness. There was someone inside who loved her too, and wished he could spend his entire life with her. And she would be happy to do that. To do that and more.

She talked to him and explained, and spilled out her feelings, and even confessed that she loved him. And when she expected to be holding onto claws that would scratch her skin, she was holding onto fleshed hands that curled up with hers. And as he smiled and laughed, she wished this moment would last forever. She would savor it until she was snuffed out like a bluish-orange flame.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: I just wanted to clarify something for my readers. Hopefully this won't be too long to deter you from the story (plus I think you guys would really like this chapter), but I guess if you just want to cut to the chase you can ignore the bolded font.**

**One of my reviewers said I called some of you guys "stupid" and that's really dumb of me to do. I apologize for that, and I really hope it doesn't seem like I'm a jerk to my readers or anything. Really, the statement just came out of frustration more than anything, and I'm actually quite glad you guys are reading my stories and actually being great with understanding why updates are going to be slow for a bit or why I haven't been working on this story for a while and things like that.**

**The frustration was pretty much me thinking I gave a bit more effort than I let on, and that people weren't noticing the symbolism, struggles within the characters, just general things like that that most writers are self-indulgent about. But really, it's just a dumb thing to worry about (and I'm really good at worrying about dumb things) when you guys aren't really super demanding of me or doing the annoying "hey I like your story, but I think the STORY SHOULD GO LIKE THIS" and really, sometimes just patient and willing readers are some of the best readers you can have, and I'm glad you guys enjoy my stories and I really do like to work on them. Although A Dragonfly's Heart isn't as easy as writing for Wonderland, I still get some satisfaction and enjoyment doing this one, even if I do face a few hurdles, such as chapter 14 I had to rewrite a few times to get it exactly right.**

**Thank you for being great and patient. You seem to understand that I'm still trying to write these as much as I can, and I appreciate that.**

His child sat on his lap as he sat on his throne, with its sullen, soulless, dead eyes, looking onto his alive, wet eyes, and he began to wish so much that inside Isabelle's eyes that she had the same magic and wonder, the same vividness and the same appreciation for life, the same eyes that appreciated when dawn bloomed in the sky and when the moon rose from the earth, her hands reaching out for him and wanting to be held, much like Amy and Diana wanted when they were children as well. Maybe this time, he would teach Isabelle all about the dangers of life, away from the woods where the nasty swamp dragons lived and the South and the East and the West. Maybe he would teach her to not be a princess, and just be a normal daughter that would never know another hedgehog's face but his and her mother. Once the South learned he had a daughter, they would kill her too. And he would rather have her potential friendships taken away than his entire life, blood flesh and soul. His daughters were his very life. They were the only reason why he continued to live this existence of a hated king. So he could raise his daughters to be the loveliest girls anyone would meet and love, especially if they were queens that would take his throne. But no, he wouldn't let little Isabelle to be a queen. That was too much on the small girl. She'll never be queen. She could just live with him as his daughter, and only that.

As he cradled her, close to his chest, close to feel his hot breath nearly stir the clay to life, he heard some shouting beyond the doors of his kingdom. There was a tussle between a female and his guards, shouting streaming through. He listened in closely.

"This is important! I must see the king right away! It's about his daughter, Amy Rose! She's alive, and Sonic is with her, planning on killing her very soon!"

His ears pricked up. Amy? His daughter? Alive? She couldn't be! She was announced dead this week! "What? Guards, why are you meddling in her affairs to deliver this piece of news? Let her speak at once in my throne room! Let her speak to my daughter, Isabelle!"

Rouge was surprised that the king already had a daughter, shortly after he thought that Amy was dead. No, shocked. How could he have a new daughter already? Either the queen was already pregnant with another child and just gave birth, or…

"Yes? What is it, poor Westerner? Speak up!"

The North still didn't respect the West. Not entirely, anyways. "King Rose, it's about your daughter, Princess Amy Rose. I would like to tell you that your daughter is still very much alive, but she is with Prince Sonic of the South Kingdom, and I don't trust him with her. Prince Sonic is becoming very much of a demon now, King Rose, I saw that he had one red, slit eye and he was growing scales all over his body. He made a deal with a Hearts and Dreams Witch, and…"

"No, you can't be telling the truth, poor Westerner! Lies, slander, factitious! My daughter, Princess Amy Emilia Rose, is still dead, I know I know! Maybe you would like to ask Isabelle if she knows where Amy is. Would you?"

She looked at the doll, with the purple quills and blue eyes that were simply painted on, and the body hard and pale and unmoving. She stared at her lopsidedly, smiling with an innocent face that would've been produced by a four year old. And she wasn't sure if the king was just joking with her and thinking all Westerners were idiots, or he was insane.

For now, she chose the latter.

"I don't know where Amy went! I didn't even knew I had a sister! What was she like, daddy? What was she like?" The doll was speaking in her father's voice, using his voice box and using his hands and using his brain to speak to Rouge. Or that was what he thought. The king was too broken ever since he heard he would never see Diana again. And he still believed that Amy was dead, stuck to his wife saying that she would possibly never return. He was stuck in the past, that king. He would rather adhere to the truth that his daughter was dead than to the real truth that his daughter may possibly never love him again. Isabelle would love him too. He would make sure of that. He would be the best damn father he could ever be for her.

"Oh yes Isabelle, I used to have a daughter that was about your age! About your height and almost looks exactly like you too! Her name was Amy, and she was my beloved child. I used to have Diana too, who just as beloved. You would've loved them Isabelle. They could've played with you and guide you through this wicked life. Because you see Isabelle, both Diana and Amy, they were…"

"King Rose, this is ridiculous. Can't you see that this daughter of yours isn't real? Can't you see that she's only made with clay? She's not real! You must be…"

"What do you mean…she's not real?" He turned to her, his eyes and speech blank. "She is just as real as Amy and Diana were. Just because she's not made with flesh and blood doesn't mean she's not real. She's just as real as you are right now. If the Forest Goddess is real, then why can't we see her?"

She sighed in frustration. "Look, what I'm trying to tell you is that Sonic is in Neo Geo Forest right now, trying to find the dragonfly's heart. So he should be heading towards the center. And I swear if you try to reach the center and locate Sonic, you will also be able to locate your daughter, Amy. You said you were looking for Sonic, right? Then you go to the center of the woods, find him, and kill him for the safety of your daughter! I've seen both of them there! Go find them and we'll make sure Sonic doesn't touch a precious hair off your other daughter."

"Other daughter? What do you mean? The only daughter I have right now is Isabelle. Amy's dead. Diana's dead. Isabelle is the only one I have. Isabelle is the only one I need. Isabelle is the only one I will need to bring to life with Sonic's blood. Yes, we will kill Sonic, sweetie. We will kill him good and dead and you will drink his blood in a bottle and suck it up like a babe. Yes."

The doctor thought, and thought, and thought, on the next monster he should create. When he went back to the forest, he found the giant metallic butterfly he made with all of his sweat and blood, broken and dismantled, the wings torn and the gears and metal rusty and corroded with the forest air. They only came back with the blood of a few woodland creatures, but not of the ones that can communicate and walk on two legs. He might as well have thrown them away when he created them. They were useless. And so was the mechanical alligator. It came back dead and broken in the swamp waters, being eaten by piranhas. He could mechanize the piranhas, but they would only attack in the sea. He could make a deer with swords on its antlers, but it would only bring back nothing but squirrel corpses for him to eat while he tried to think of anything that could actually _kill _someone, not these robotic rejects that know nothing of success or failure, only to live just as carefree as a normal animal, with all these mechanical wiring and robotic limbs and eyes to live with that would guarantee their survival, but they were killed by someone who knew that there was a human living among them. Human scent was all over these creatures. And as he roasted a mornsunbird on the stick in a fire, he knew he had to rack his brain even more, be creative, so to speak. There was something that could destroy the whole forest in one gulp of the teeth and fire somewhat like his alligator, he just had to think harder. _Think Robotnik, because these creatures are still alive, still breathing that fragile forest air that could very well be city air. I know with your incredible brain you can think of something, anything to kill these disgusting creatures and bring back the land that was so rightfully claimed by the humans in the first place!_

He lost a few pounds ever since he joined in this war. All he ever managed to catch were a few dumb squirrels and birds that fell for his traps, or some he managed to shoot with his guns. However, the doctor was too clumsy to ever shoot a deer or any large creature that dared to walk upon his land. Sometimes being the doctor had its disadvantages. He could never balance himself very well to ever be active. _Damn my father for giving this egg-shaped body! Why did he ever think he should make himself a mockery straight out of the Beatles song, "I Am the Walrus"!_

As he ripped open the flesh of the roasted bird with his bare teeth, his hand was met with a strange visitor, one that he rarely saw in these woods ever since he joined the war. It was a yellow dragonfly, as yellow as the yellow submarine from the very same Beatles song, looking at him with wide, blue gemmed eyes while its wings flickered a little, ready to fly off into the forest and swamp wilderness before the sun was put out by the breath of the Forest Goddess like a flame in a candle. It stared at him and his food, being very still, the doctor's hand motionless. While he would've made the dragonfly fly away and leave him to his only dinner of a mornsunbird that tasted too black for his tongue, a match went out in his mind. The open blue flame in the night of his head, it reached out and touched the very edges of his brain with an idea that he thought was foolproof, that he could create a monster that was so powerful with the dragonfly's DNA that the Forest Goddess would beg him to stop and make him a powerful and wrathful god for sure!

_You may not use our dragonflies for this war. They are our creatures and ours alone._

And? What was she going to do to stop him? All is fair in love and war. He could do whatever dirty trick he had under his sleeve and the Forest Goddess couldn't punish him in the slightest. Not if he had a powerful monster that could crush even her in its wake.

Carefully, slowly, he put the dragonfly in a jar as it still sat, observing its surroundings as if it was slow and old, the age growing like algae around its wings and legs. Even when he closed the jar quickly with a cap that had holes on it, it still sat, observing, interested in what the doctor would do with its blood. _Oh you will see soon my little dragonfly, my little pal. You will see soon._

It sat so still when he analyzed on his machines what would happen if he made a dragonfly spliced with an alligator, as it waited for the very last moments, of its little flame of its life and body to go out. The Forest Goddess said its time was to come, it had a good life supporting its female, and now was the time to let its wings be as still as he was, to let bygones be bygones, and to be in a special place the Forest Goddess promised he would be as soon as he was laid to rest.

But the other god, Dr. Robotnik, had other plans. Its life was going to be in another place, to be no longer a peaceful and kind dragonfly, but a monster very involved in its warfare. It would destroy lives, it would destroy its home, it would destroy other dragonflies like itself and its mother, the Forest Goddess, and there was nothing it could say on the matter. Dr. Robotnik, the god of gears and metal and technology, had other plans.

The dragonfly and the alligator were now going to bring truth in the words spoken by all of the kingdoms, "swamp dragon".

The sun was arising. The sister to the Forest Goddess, Dawn, had her eye rising slowly over the prince and princess, showering them in golden and red light. They walked on further, as the prince took to cutting all the shrubs and weeds in their way. Now they were continuing on their journey without the one that the prince took to naming "the batty bitch", who threatened to tell the king of the north's men about Sonic and how he was keeping the princess "captive" and was ready to kill her when he fully transformed to a demon.

She wanted to help Sonic, so much. As she knew that there was a kind, old self inside of the cold, cretinous creature that used to be called Sonic, she wanted the old self to arise from the ashes like the sun over the hill about now, and to be reborn to the new world that was slowly arising under their feet. She felt the world changing, rotating, being formed under the Forest Goddess' very fingers, and she had to admit to herself that possibly all these changes weren't going to be good. Maybe the old Sonic was right. A war was coming. Over the forest she could possibly hear men from all of the kingdoms fighting and screaming and shedding blood and dying, and for what? She wasn't sure. Sonic didn't tell her. They could be fighting for no reason for all she knew. But all he could tell her was that she needed to prepare herself, and that he wouldn't be able to protect her any longer. The big battle was coming, as fast as the rising sun, and she had to try to survive on her own.

How could she survive? She was weak, fragile, and she didn't exactly had the smarts to survive in the woods. Not like Rouge, oh certainly not like Rouge! She didn't even know how to make a tent, how to tell which plant was safe to eat and which ones are not, how to use them fully, or even any strategies to live by herself in this forest. That was why she needed Sonic. He knew all that. And even if he claimed he didn't care for her, he kept her safe. He gave her food to eat, he gave her shelter, he gave her protection, simply because she saved her life, and both in the North and South that was a sign that they had to pay you back for whatever they thought their life was worth. And Sonic thought quite highly of himself.

Maybe some of the old self was cracking through. Maybe the baby phoenix was peeking at her in some of the holes in the egg. Maybe he knew she was there, and that even if he couldn't feel love for her, he would protect her under his burning wings once he came out. Oh love, what a bright, but fickle creature it was. It only grew in the hearts of the loving, and maybe, it was inside Sonic after all.

She still couldn't remember how she was able to save Sonic's life, or why she thought it would be a good idea to be involved in all of this huge mess that was lying before her. But the sick and the dying was never going to die under her, not from her watch. And she liked Sonic, even if he was a little rude to her. Even from the beginning she thought he wasn't a completely bad hedgehog. She could tell that the rudeness was simply a front, to hide his vulnerability. She met people like that before. Her father was one of them.

She remembered even on the day when Diana died, he didn't want to show to her or her mother or his people that he felt like crying, because he lost such a vast thing from his life. It was a giant hole that she knew he possibly can't fill again. Losing your children was something you would always remember, something that would haunt you for the rest of your life. And no matter what, none of the pegs in that hole was going to fit. It was too big for simply any of them to fill it. So try as you might, put in the star-shaped one, put in the circle shaped one, put in the triangle-shaped one, hell, put them all inside your body, but it wasn't going to be the fix. You will have that hole forever. And nothing was going to make you forget about it.

She wondered if her father thought she was dead, and if he regretted banishing her from the kingdom. She admitted to herself that she missed her family, and she still missed her sister. A hole was in her body too. Nope, the pegs won't fit. Ever. She was going to be gone until she was dead too.

As she thought silently to herself, both of them heard something, some shuffling in the distance, a groaning and a hiss and claws scuttling and ravishing the earth with needles. It was creating a dust storm as it ran, roaring and groaning and hissing and ready to kill anything that was in its path the tail swishing and the eyes slit and dark. Sonic never heard of a clawed creature that could run as quickly as this could. Even the East soldiers couldn't run this fast. They wished, but it was something they could never hope to achieving (a slow, disgusting species! He thought to himself). He heard a maddened roar echo throughout the woods, sounding like a cross of a Gila monster and a horse, trying to warn people in its way of its power.

A lizard. And a horse.

Of course. That human was at it again! Damn him!

"Something's coming this way, wench. You better take cover and let me handle it."

"Actually Sonic, I think I want…to help you. I could figure out how to use this gun and I could help you in your battles. I'm not going to be weak anymore. I want to help you fight." She put on a determined face, to show Sonic that she was serious about her statement. That the scaly hedgehog was going to be just as protected as her.

"And how are you going to do that? You don't have any gunpowder or bullets!"

As the sound from the forest grew louder and the daylight began to spread further in the land, she showed him the bag that Rouge carried with her before, the bag with the gunpowder and bullets inside. "I took it from her when she was going crazy too. She was too unaware so I snatched it under her nose with no problem."

"Ah, so the batty bitch wasn't so cautious after all, huh."

"Shh! It's coming!"

The creature was unveiled to the beckoning morning light, a reptilian head, looking much like a swamp dragon's, attached to a horse's body with long, slender clawed legs. Sonic analyzed the horse's body to be the deceased body of his old friend, Nanaka, but no emotions were evoked by him. He didn't care much and he didn't cry and weep like Amy thought he would when he was his old self, as he sliced the swamp dragon's head from its body, the creature snickering and laughing as it fell from the mammal carcass and onto the forest floor, slithering and leaping and attacking Amy with its wide, gnarled mouth as the slit eyes were becoming larger until she thought she could see the eyes of Sonic's horse when it laid on the swamp floor, completely traumatized and shocked from the abuse it received, and as quickly as she could the gun fired a round bullet with a loud tumultuous roar, and the swamp dragon's head was completely ripped from its neck, and there it laid. The reptile no longer moved as Amy rushed towards it and smashed its face with her foot, its eyes gouged out with her shoe. The creature was no more, and yet another of the human's creations failed. It was dead.

Amy's chest rapidly rose and fell, her hands sweating and hot tears in her eyes. She never wanted to see another monster like this again. She knew that this and among other horrible wretched visions was the cost of fighting the war against whatever she was fighting against. That was her punishment for even being involved with Sonic and this giant battle in the woods. But she had to just shoot its head to make sure it really was dead, and move on. Her heart was still struck with lightning as they walked.

"Wasn't that your horse? That thing I killed?"

"Yes," he said. And nothing more.

The forest was silent as they walked on. Amy could hear the twittering of the birds, but nothing else. No monsters coming to kill them or any of the king's men. For now.

Her stomach felt barren, it reveling in its hunger as they walked. Her feet were becoming weaker, and she noticed even a difference in Sonic and that he was becoming weaker too. His slit eyes were becoming duller, tired, his movements sluggish. They were in a seemingly good (and peaceful) part of the forest. Why couldn't they just stop for a while and rest and eat whatever they could find?

"Sonic, I think we should stop for a while, don't you think? Do you think I could catch you something to feed you and rest our feet for a while? I can tell you're tired too. Let's stop for a while."

"We're not stopping, wench. We're going to keep moving until we get to the dragonfly's heart. We're getting closer. I can sense it. We don't need any food right now. I'm not sure about you, but I'm sure I'll be fine."

"No you won't be. You haven't ate since yesterday afternoon. I'm sure with a body like yours I'd be hungry and tired too. Whether you like it or not, we're going to rest and eat. Now come on, I'll get a fire burning and everything."

"And what are you going to do if I don't stay here and keep on moving? Anything?"

She thought on what she could do to convince him to stay. She thought of threatening him that she would stay here without him. But he probably would go on and she would be here facing these monsters alone. Making him stay by gunpoint wasn't something that was in her character to do either. Maybe she could try to _give him _a good reason to stay here, using the powers of persuasion. And she knew exactly where to hit him to tame him.

"Alright, but I'm going to stay here and make myself a nice, succulent, roasted long legs long ears on a stick, to cook by the warm, hot fire. It's cold out there, Sonic. Since you don't have fur anymore, I think I would, you know, stay by a warm place for a bit."

"You can't hunt, wench!" he exclaimed, turning around. "You're a damn woman! How the hell are you going to do a man's job and catch a long legs long ears for me to eat?"

He was convincing him a little. That was good at least. "Would you rather have me do it than you laying down your tired body, your tired and aching bones, and let me catch and make you a dinner that was as good as the soup I made you when you were sick? My family ate rabbit a few times before, and I think I could find the right things to make this one as good as the one you used to eat in your kingdoms."

"Ha! I bet you can't! You know what? I think I'm going to stay here and rest a while, only to see you try to catch me a long legs long ears and try to cook it just as great as the long legs I ate with my father back when I was a prince, and I'm going to watch you fail miserably! I'll show you that men can only do these jobs, and women should just do the cooking, but even men can do that much better too! And when you fail, I'll show you that I'm right, that women can't do a damn thing!"

Maybe not the exact results she wanted, but if Sonic wanted to stay simply because he wanted to laugh at her when she was going to prove him dead wrong, that was enough for her.

She remembered the advice Sonic gave her for starting a fire when he was sick (Even when he was ill he felt the need to correct her. Always correcting everything she did…something that she knew she had to get used to when traveling with Sonic.). She rolled it between her fingertips briskly, and much to her joy, a small flame began to arise and greet her with the kiss of heat on her nose, and slowly, the flame became much bigger and devoured the twigs she found lying around their campsite, much like a starved child. The fire was made now, her smiling as the orange light wavered over her face. Now she had to find a long legs long ears, kill it, skin it, and roast it, along with cutting and spreading any herbs she could find over it. Even if she was full of determination to prove Sonic wrong, she was also full of doubt. As her own long legs leaped over her head, scurrying with worry and fear, she realized that she never hunted before. Her father thought that hunting was nothing but work that princesses should never worry about, the men would provide with that. And her father wasn't even the hunter. She didn't even know where the long legs long ears they ate came from. The chef simply had it in his hand, ready to broil and cook. There was no explanation at all on how it got there. It was just simply there, simply materialized in the chef's coolers. And she was sure that the chef didn't hunt for it either. It wasn't his job to get the meat himself. He just simply cooked it.

She waited, silently, on the white mushroom that held her with its head, staring at the plains for anything that was edible to arrive. The only creature she saw poking its head in her sight was a groundeater, but they weren't wise to try to hunt and eat. They had sharp claws, sharp teeth, ill tempers, and they probably didn't taste very good anyways. She was sure if she tried to kill it it would tear into her and she would have more to worry about her journey than just her feet when they were walking. Her limbs would probably be bitten off. She probably wouldn't be able to walk at all.

The sun reeled like a gear on a clock, telling her that it was now the afternoon. Sonic was probably starving by now, laughing to himself that a weak woman like her couldn't hunt for anything. All she could do was wait. She didn't know how to find animal footprints, or which one belonged to which animal. She didn't had the strong senses that Sonic had to know if an animal was coming or going or if he could hear one make a sound as it stepped on a twig. And of course she wasn't going to analyze animal droppings (Even if she crushed a swamp dragon's eyes she still finds the thought of that "gross".). She was sure an animal would come by and maybe not notice her. She was so quiet sometimes she thought she might as well have been invisible. Even an animal probably couldn't see her sitting on the mushroom, as she sat and stared, not making one peep, even being cautious of her breathing.

The sun was roasting her back, much like she wished she could do to a long legs long ears, turning her over on the stick. The cicadas began to hiss over the horizon. But she was silent, and blocked the droning dirge from her ears.

She unsheathed her knife, and then let it hide in her pocket. Over and over. She was fidgeting, but she still tried to compulsively do small tasks to keep her hands busy as she waited. Silently.

And finally, it hopped. It hopped on its long, white, slender legs, analyzing its surroundings with its cherry eyes. It sniffed and stood on its slender legs, seeing if everything was quiet and still and safe. Its ears twitched as suddenly, it heard the sounds of the earth going _pitter patter _as small pink feet ran across it.

She had her knife so high in the air, the sound erupting from her mouth a high-pitched yell, and she prepared to have the snow white fur to become as red as plump cherries, and a shrill scream coming from its bucked mouth. It wasn't fazed by its hunter. It simply ran on its snow white, slender legs, and ran for the rabbit hole near the glowing tree, hidden from her sight, as she fell on her face, her mouth and her knife, tasting dirt.

And as she picked herself up, she heard laughter.

She didn't need to see where the laughing was coming from. She wasn't surprised that he was watching after all.

He slapped his knee, his body rolling with snickers and sneers. "I guess I won my bet, wench! You can't hunt for anything in these woods, can you? I told you that hunting was a man's job! Nice try though, you gave me a good laugh!"

Amy felt the hot tears swarm in her eyes again. She felt so humiliated, she felt so disgusted with herself that she swore she could do the job as well as Sonic, who probably hunted since he was a small boy, when she never hunted a single thing in her life, and she felt anger rising in her body, anger for herself and anger for Sonic who truly believed that women were as useless as a leech swimming in the dank, dark swamp water trying to hide their uselessness from the other creatures. Even if she knew she wanted to protect Sonic, she couldn't help herself reacting from the pain of her embarrassment and from the sharpness of her anger.

"Shut up you! I tried my best! So you were watching me the whole time just seeing if I was going to mess up? Why are you so concerned if I mess up or not? You damn jerk!"

There was a long silence after insulting him. She was surprised to find that Sonic didn't react back with a retort about how useless women were or called her a wench or even got angry. He walked towards her, picked her up (and as soon as she got up she tried to hide the tears in her eyes, for fear of more embarrassment), and held her tightly to his chest.

She looked up. His face was still demonic, so she began to think that maybe she toed the line and he thought about killing her for her remark. He looked away from her, but as she was being held, it wasn't with resentment or that he had a thought of ending her life like he thought he might've done since the beginning (or so Amy thought), but she felt a little warmth in it. Kindness. Fondness. And even if his claws were sharp blades, he made care that he wouldn't injure her as he stroked her back.

"Look, it's alright. It's obvious you never hunted since you were banished from your kingdom. What if I show you how to hunt so you can fend for yourself? You helped me before, I guess it's about time I help you with something other than protecting you. How about that? Maybe I'll show you you don't need me all the time. Maybe it's about time you learn how to fend for yourself."

She smiled. Her urge was too great. She broke from his hold, and still smiling, she laughed. "Oh, what's this? Does the prince actually like me? Tell the truth, I knew you were going to show it sooner or later!"

"Ha, feelings for you? Not in a lifetime, wench! I just think it's time you're taught something so I don't need to protect you all the damn time. Now come on, we're wasting time. I'll show you how to track an animal and how to set a trap."

_I'm finally getting through to Sonic. Whether he says so or not, I _know _he's finally taken a little liking to me. Maybe that cold heart of his is actually starting to melt a little._

She was no longer disappointed in herself. She did something much bigger than catching a long legs long ears. Sonic, the one with the blackened heart made of steel, was starting to like her. And if she could get through a little to Sonic, maybe she could do nearly anything, even if she was a woman. No one else, and certainly not a man, would've made Sonic feel for once. A little progress was showing, and maybe one day, that phoenix was going to rise from his ashes, and he would protect her with his golden heart and blazing wings.

He taught her everything he could, and as the sun glowed in the far distance, watching them as Amy successfully trapped a brown long legs long ears that squealed as Sonic killed it, ready for the skinning and the roasting. Amy cringed when he began cutting through its flesh, peeling off its chocolate fur, but she knew as Sonic told her, that she had to do things she knew she wasn't going to like when trying to survive out in this wilderness. Sometimes she wished that she was a princess again, no longer worrying about if you were amble enough to get a good meal in your stomach, but she couldn't wish for it for so long in her mind. She thought such thoughts would make her weaker.

They sat near the fire, eating. The meat was tender, and Amy thought she could teach Sonic on how to get the long leg long ear's meat just right before eating, and she did. They were both their teachers, their guides, their mentors, and Amy increasingly felt that slowly, they were becoming closer as they supported each other in these woods, and she could feel his heart beginning to beat a strong brass song as she laid her head on his chest, her body warm by the blanket of heat the fire was producing with its red and orange hands.

She raised her head, gazing into his eyes. They were green again, and no longer slit and red. The kind, sweet prince Sonic had returned, stroking her cheek with soft hands and with a smile and a glittering of those green eyes Amy began to love. As she watched the fire dance for the Sky Goddess, the diamond in the sky, the shards of glass that were the stars, he held her and gave her a small wet kiss on her head, while humming the song that Amy sang him what seemed so long ago. She could nearly hear the words _an__d we watch the diamond bird shower the night with its wings _arise to her ears with the magic of his voice, bringing life to the lyrics and making them dance and sing along with the princess, like small children entranced by the sound of a perfectly innocent song. The night seemed so perfect to her, to sing with someone that she was beginning to love, to be warm and safe under the moon's and star's gaze.

She realized it, and maybe Sonic will realize it one day too.

She loved him.

She was beginning to love the sweet and gentle nature that was inside the cold prince Sonic, and she wanted it more. The only way she could get more of that addictive love was to simply pry it out, with her own gentleness.

She stared at his chest. She wanted to take his heart and mend it of all of the wounds he received. His father banishing him, the witch that stole his heart, the hidden pain of having his beloved horse Nanaka die that he was burying deep within his body. She wanted to take everything and make everything right and okay again. She wished she could tell him that everything was going to be all right from now on, because Princess Amy was here, and she was going to bandage everything and make him warm and make him happy. He was fully her responsibility now, and she knew that she wasn't going to surrender in this journey, no matter how tired, how hurt, how hungry, she was going to be, and she would make Sonic like himself. She will find the dragonfly's heart, even if the batty bitch would return, and she was willing to fight, even kill for him. It was the sacrifices she had to make, and make them she will she said.

She listened to the violin legs make an orchestra that was sung specifically for them, and she laid her head on his chest, drifting off to sleep. She could feel him stroking her head, scratching her behind the ears, and she smiled too.

And abruptly, a small voice from the horizon broke them up.

"Excuse me? Hello? Is there anyone there? Anyone that can help me? I'm looking for assistance!"

Amy awoke as Sonic's hands became knives and his eyes became slits and he now had a murderous tail, and she could hear him growl deeply in his throat before launching himself to the source of the voice, his sword exposed and his tail ready to cut through the creature's flesh, the one that simply asked for help. Amy sat, inarticulate, wishing that the moment didn't had to end so soon. Not sure of what to do as she rubbed her eyes sheepishly, she ran on his tracks and followed the trail of dirt, hoping that Sonic didn't harm this man, whoever he was.

His sword was close to his neck, feeling the metal nearly cutting through his scales, and while he couldn't see it, he could feel it. He sensed with his tongue that the creature who was attacking him could've been one of his brethren, but the more he tasted the heat around him, the more he began to doubt his organ's claim. He could hear heavy breathing, and feel it imprinting on his skin, and anger, oh so much anger coming from this poor fellow! When he simply just asked for help with something. Oh, he was just as reactive as the people back in his kingdom. Maybe he was his brethren. But something…made him confused, that this creature wasn't everything it seemed. Was it some sort of hybrid between the two species? What was making him so lost on what this creature was?

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing here? Get lost, we have no need for the likes of disgusting Easterners!"

Maybe he wasn't his brother in his kingdom after all. His doubts were correct.

He raised his hands, Sonic close to pressing the sword deeper until he bled. "I'm sorry that my appearance offends you. My name is Rhyiuk, and I certainly do come from the East, but please do not be fooled by our usual disposition! I swear that I just need help and I'm willing to help you if you're willing to help me! I have a son, named Rhyium, and I'm trying to help him. He's sick. It would be a shame to kill a father to a sick child, is that correct?"

He put his sword back in its sheath, the lizard's neck free. He gazed at him with contempt, as he backed away. "Shut it, frog breath! I'm simply sparing your life because I'm sure our little princess here wouldn't like that very much. And I'm not interested in helping you, because I know this little sob story of yours is a trap! Save it for someone who believes it. Let's go, wench. We're going."

"Wait a minute Sonic," she said, as she finally caught up to the both of them, hearing his story from the distance. "If we help him, he said he would help us, right? Look, we're trying to find the dragonfly's heart, and…"

"Don't tell him! He simply doesn't need to know, or else he's going to beg for the dragonfly's heart too! Remember batty bitch? Remember how well that turned out?"

She thought to herself. Even if the lizard was from the East, he did seem nice, and she heard of the stories on how diseases were so easily spread in that part of the kingdom. She even felt a little sorry for him. She knew how her father reacted when Diana died. She couldn't imagine him and the pain he would feel if his beloved son died. The pegs weren't going to fit.

"Sonic, I think we should help him. He looks like he means no harm to us. If he does betray us, then I will give you the right to kill him, as I know how dangerous anyone from the East is. But just from seeing how my father acted when my sister Diana died, then I can understand a little on the pain of losing a child. What are you looking for to help him? The dragonfly's heart? There was someone who was with us earlier who needed it, for what reasons I didn't know, but she betrayed us and alerted my father about Sonic, so we can't take anyone who might betray us again. Can you remember that?"

He nodded. "Thank you for understanding. I can understand that you're Princess Rose from the North Kingdom, and you're Prince Sonic from the South. Your fathers must not love their children so much if they're willing to banish them from their own homes."

"I think my father loves me," she said, quietly. "It's just that…he makes irrational decisions such as this when I said no to his arranged marriage." She imagined him again, in his warm arms, him singing the songs of the North. Oh how she missed it as much as he probably missed her.

"I'm sure he misses me, and he deeply misses Diana. I heard he's looking for me now, but I can't return home just yet. I promised Sonic that I would find the dragonfly's heart for him, and cure him of his stolen heart. As you can sense, he's turning into a demon now, and I have to do something before he fully transforms into one. What's wrong with your son? I can't imagine what it would be like to have a sick child, especially one close to death…

"

"Actually, I'm looking for a plant that's said to be on the plains north of here, which can cure him of an illness called Tree Limbs Syndrome. It's been spreading to our kingdom, and I heard it's spreading a little in the West too. It basically slowly paralyzes your whole entire body. It starts off with just a small head cold, then it gradually becomes a monster, just pinning you down and devouring all the muscles in your body. And I fear that my son may have it. But if I just go off to the plains somewhere off a little in these woods, I may be able to cure him. It hasn't been entirely proven that it works, but doctors in our kingdom are saying their patients are improving a little with the plant. And I might as well do what I think is right for my son. It seems like you're doing something you think is right for the prince too. I recognized that he may have a stolen heart."

"I'm sorry about that. But maybe we can help each other out, since we're looking for nearly the same thing. But in order for me to trust you, we're going to have to do the Dragonfly Swear. Are you going to be okay with that?"

"But that's what we did with batty bitch, wench! The same thing is going to happen with him too! I don't trust anyone from the East or West. The East is filled with disgusting creatures and the West is full of thieves and liars. You can do the swear, but if he betrays you too, all I'm going to say is that I told you so. You're being stupid!"

"Suit yourself, Sonic. You don't have to talk to him. But I know that I need to help someone like him too, especially if he has a sick child. He seems strong, so maybe he can help us when we navigate through this forest. There are hybrids made from a human that are walking all over here, and they're very dangerous, so we can appreciate all the power we can get."

He belted out a strong, long laugh that shook even his rock hard scales. "Humans never learn, do they? That's just how we deal with them, teaching them a lesson. My son appreciates for what you're doing for him, so I'm sure we can help each other out. Once again, I'm Rhyiuk, and I know that you're Princess Rose and Prince Sonic. We're a little wary of the South, but I welcome you all the same."

Sonic watched, disgusted, as they did the swear, expecting the very same he expected from the bat that joined them earlier. Time seemed to repeat for him, experiencing the very same events again, Amy never learning from her mistakes every time this Time repeated its lessons. He was just fine, with just the wench, oh the pretty wench, and now someone else had to join the adventure, ready to betray them once again. Was the wench, oh the pretty wench, the beautiful wench he was starting to glow a little for, dense? He felt that the pretty wench was the one who _betrayed him, _more than the bitch could. And he wished so much that the lizard would die, so it could just be him and her again, oh please let it be just him and her! He was sick of this world, he was sick of everyone, he wanted to just be alone with this wench, the pretty, beautiful, kind, lovely, gorgeous wench. He only wanted her.

They slept by the embers that were also beginning to sleep too, and Sonic lied awake, his red eye shimmering, angry, wrathful, wishing that if the lizard wasn't in his way, he could touch the locks of her hair and taste her kisses again. Oh damn that bastard! Oh damn him!

He just wanted to take the glass stars, break them to sharp pieces that jutted with sharp teeth willing to sink into his veins, and just cut his throat until he bled out everything, and he could be with his princess and bleed out everything for her with his heart. His heart felt too numb, but maybe it would finally feel the pain of love and devotion.


	17. Chapter 17

The night spewed forth many stars and the royal blue sky that darkened the horizon, and it was once again hot and humid. The moon couldn't do anything about the sun's decision to roast the land and its inhabitants so she could eat them with her rays. Everything had to be, and it had to be hot and humid. The skies could only sigh as the heat wavered over their bodies, and made them uncomfortable and wish it was the time of the year where it could snow. This was one of those moments where it hated its sister the Sun, but everything had to be, and so it went.

Amy, Sonic, and Rhyiuk walked further into the forest, the heat causing them to swell and sweat. Rhiuyk enjoyed it, being a coldblooded reptile, and he found no issues with the weather unlike the other creatures with fur and skin. Sometimes having scales would be a huge advantage, and he wondered if the prince hadn't completely shed off his fur in favor of the superior shining scales that defended and protected the holder, but Sonic still had that animalism in him. He was still one with fur and skin, and what the East would consider "outsiders", "bastards", and "scum", but Rhyiuk tried to not mind it. He had to get used to being in a land with ones who were furred and skinned, because he found himself not wishing to be with the East any longer. Too much disease, too much of his family and friends dying in the wars everyday, and now his son was dying of the Tree Syndrome and he told him once he cured him, he would take him to the great North Kingdom, where they would be accepted and even treated like kings. They would have a different god to live under, a different creed and different problems and a different environment, but he told his son that there was no complaining, they _must _arrive there, as it was better than the East.

"If we stay in the East any longer my son, my Rhyium, if we do, we're as good as dead. There's too many diseases, too many wars, too many politics, too much prejudice…if we want to live like noblemen, if we want to live like the men we hear in the stories we tell, we would go to the North, the only kingdom that would accept us. There are those with fur and skin, but Rhyium, they must not be so wrong if they can live under a king that promises to rid us of poverty and diseases under his daughter Princess Rose. But the problem is, is that Princess Rose hasn't returned to the castle in about a week, as the father had banished her, and now he regrets it and fears that her blood would be on his hands and face. Therefore, Rhyium, I will be a hero."

"And what can you do that will make you a hero? Protect the fragility of the Forest Goddess?"

"No, something better, as we know the Forest Goddess is wise and can protect herself. We must protect an innocent child and bring her back to her home, and then we'll be welcomed in the North. This I believe, and I will return with your medicine as soon as the king's men arrive to take Amy Rose back to her father. I'm sorry Rhyium, my son, my boy, we cannot return back to the East. It is too dangerous with the mindless wars and diseases. We must live in the North, and Goddess damn it, we must be happy there. Princess Rose promised all of us we would be happy. She promised!"

And promised she will. Because he was the one who would return her back home, without this prince killing her with his demon blood flowing in his body and into his brain.

The night's hot air blew through their bodies, brisk and powerful. Even if they laid in the campsite just a few hours before, Amy was exhausted again, as the heat was making her tired and her body sluggish. She could hear the time birds hooting in the dark, their great eyes looking upon the horizon, larger than half-moons (looking like golden moons themselves) and claws that shone under the moon itself. And there were the violin legs chirping in the musky air, looking for their mate, playing their instruments loud and jarring enough for anyone to hear, their wide antennae long and stringy and picking up electrical currents to find the girl of their dreams. And there were the night howlers in the distance, the gray and white and silver lupines snarling in the dark humid night, their voices going through their bodies as much as the hot air, warning prey of their callings. Maybe they should've been concerned about those night howlers, but Amy thought they were only in the distance, in the craggy white sharp mountains jutting like teeth from a swamp dragon under the white sharp moon that was inches away from being devoured. There were hole biters scattering in the grass under them, some being captured by the time birds as they flew in to get their meal. The moon glared in her eyes, telling her that it was time to run now, the night creatures were running and stirring and ready to eat hedgehog prey, they had to run, or else they would never find the dragonfly's heart or return home. The night creatures were stirring. The night creatures were stirring. And I, the moon, and even my sisters the sky and the sun cannot save you right now. Run.

And Amy seemed to collect this message in her eyes and ears more than the others, and she could hear the night howlers moving closer, lurking, their white sharp eyes looking like the craggy mountains that were willing to chomp on their bones and tear through their flesh. The night creatures were stirring. The night creatures were stirring. Run.

"Sonic, Rhyiuk, night howlers are moving closer," she said as her voice shook, trembling in their earlobes. It meant that she was scared, and that they should listen to her pleas. But Sonic continued to walk, as Rhyiuk stopped. The night creatures were stirring. "Amy, what are you trying to warn us about?"

"Night howlers. They're coming. We have to get our weapons out now!"

"I don't believe you for a moment's notice, wench. Night howlers rarely attack people out in the forest. That's just a myth but women like you must be stupid enough to believe it."

Rhyiuk grew annoyed, shoving Sonic weakly (if he shoved him with all his strength he would've been sent flying to a tree. Easterners were very powerful and nothing to underestimate.). "You don't say anything like that to a lady. I think she's right, I can hear them coming closer with their howls and I can sense their breath. I'm blind, so of course I can sense these things. You're half reptile, so you should understand."

"Don't shove me, you disgusting Easterner! Of course I have those abilities, they're probably just not as well-tuned as yours. Fine, maybe the woman is right. Maybe night howlers are coming to get us. But I'm still not going to give the wench any of my credit. She's still just that: a stupid woman who believes all these stupid lies us men make up." The night creatures were stirring, under the white sharp moon.

And from the trees and grass, the night creatures sprung, one of them attacking Sonic's arm, chewing on it, the hard scales tough to penetrate with its white sharp teeth. Sonic was unimpressed with its lunge, and with one good swipe of the sword, the blade cut through its chest and the moon howler cried and ran from the scene, licking its seeping blood. The others attacked, the sharp white fur and the dull gray and the semi-sharp silver all growled and bared their teeth, cornering them, with their pupils like needles that could cut through their bodies and pierce through them. They took a step back, Amy aiming with her gun, loading it with gunpowder, Rhyiuk unsheathing his claymore, and Sonic close to lunging, only his rational side of his brain told him it would be wise if he stopped, and waited.

The night howlers bounded with their elastic legs, aiming for their necks with their teeth as their eyes peered and glowered over them with their white sharpness and Amy settled the gunpowder and the bullet in the gun and fired a silver round bullet to the creature a mess of fur and blood spilling across the grass and whimpering and whining and Rhyiuk sliced one with his claymore and there was more whimpering and whining and the night howler stepped back and the gash he inflicted was large and full of running blood like a stream a red stream that reminded Amy of the blood in those human peppermint sticks how shiny and ruby-like as it streamed down into the grass and stained it she imagined there would be a bunch of tiny little fish swimming through it drinking the blood and gobbling it with their fishy mouths and the night howler was dead and Sonic stabbed one in the chest as it leaped with those rubber banded legs and the howler died instantly gurgling with blood gurgling with the throes of battling and it was too much for it the battle was too large of a goblet for it drink in one large gulp and the night howlers were shot at again stabbed and sliced blood streaming across the grass like a river a red river that streamed down to the center of the forest and Amy had to think to herself is this where the dragonfly's heart lives where it drinks all the blood is it there it drinks the blood of the fallen like a babe with a bottle and the wolves knew this too as they realized their enemy was tougher than they and they ran into the far reaches of the woods, back to the white sharp toothed mountains trying to eat the moon and they were gone. The battle was done. The battle was gone. There was a lot of blood and teeth, and Amy wished she didn't had to see such a sight again.

It was such a flash to her eyes. She wondered if she was dreaming. But she felt the blood on her skirt and she felt the fiery words from Sonic's mouth and the feeling of shooting the wolf with her gun, so it couldn't be a dream. Too realistic of a dream. Too much trying to tell her that this was exactly what all the kingdoms were now facing with. War was never a nice and candid answer for everyone to hear. It was always behind close mutters and the anger of the kings, stained with red, stained with the blood of the warriors that they needed to sacrifice for the good of their daughters, the good of their sons, the good of their countries, and Amy never thought it was something that the kings liked to see. Maybe they even thought about ending their wars, but the kingly side of them, the one that thirsts for revenge on all the other nations, for killing their families in cold blood, for destroying everything they ever hoped to be with their kingdoms, and for destroying their luxuries and riches that the batty bitch once said they had in their bellies and gobbled up like pigs. Then again, maybe they didn't cared how many were killed in the wars. Maybe they didn't cared how many of their people were poor and needed the money, so they enlisted their lives in their armies, they only cared about the sweetness of the white peppermint stick that was imbued with the blood of the innocent, and they would savor it to the very last stick to shard caused by licking it constantly as their tongues tasted the sweetness of being a king who controlled all these people. And maybe her father was one of those people. And she hated to feel it in her mind. The truth.

They walked on, and the white sharp moon casted the light on them and their path, showing them the way to the center of the forest. Amy couldn't help but look back at the blood that was shining so prettily in the grass, blackened by the moon's gaze.

The puddle on the ground was stepped on, reverberating with its clear and elastic skin as Rouge continued back to the center of the woods. She got a new gun with her, her old one probably stolen by the pink quilly bitch that decided to take everything she had to defend herself. Except her knives, but she never wanted to stare at these people in the face as she stabbed them and tore their face to a Harlequin's smile. _It's not in my nature it's not in my nature it's not in my nature to worry about killing someone in these woods I swear I'm not like this at all if it wasn't for that damn disease that tore apart my family and my husband I would never be this way I would never be into this mess I don't even want the damn dragonfly's heart for myself or even for selling it I don't care how poor my kingdom is I don't care I don't care I don't care those jokers must be joking about me I swear I'm not doing anything of the sort if only I told them I was trying to help Knuckles Knuckles Knuckles._

Her mind was traveling at light speed. Her heart beat too. Her sweat was moving at mere increments, but still she could feel it going through her fur and into her chest. Her feet were moving at ten miles an hour, the dragonflies around her were moving at about thirty miles an hour, and the clouds were moving at about twenty miles an hour as they swarmed the sky, smothering the stars and the moon and told them to keep quiet, because something was going to happen, and it wasn't good. It couldn't let it soil their virgin eyes, especially the stars as they saw far too much, especially the moon on the latest bloodshed it saw five miles away. Too much to spare of the poor white ones, the shining ones that saw too much of the forest, of how much it shed blood each year.

The gun _clanked clanked clanked _against her body as she ran, thinking the _clanking _was a clock. It ticked every second, every minute, every hour of how much time she had left before Knuckles was dead. And each hour her mind went faster. Her fingers felt more trigger happy. Her knives grew sharper like nails. She kept running and running but she was never closer to the heart. Her heart continued to beat for the other, but they were never connected. Too far apart. She was running on those human treadmills for all she knew. The mobian strip continued to repeat for her. And the seconds, the minutes, the hours, the heart, and the gun continued to beat, making her mind run in wild colors and in wild speeds. The sounds were running together for her too. No time to listen to. _Pitter patter pitter patter _goes her feet. _Clank clank clank _goes her gun. A scream goes the mouth of someone else.

He begged her to stop. He told her that he meant no harm to a woman like her. But it only made her angrier that such men continued to think women like her were no harm. Had they ever heard of a black widow? Its venom was enough to kill a full-grown creature, and it continued to kill while raising about hundreds of children. Then in the ultimate sacrifice, it allows its own children to eat its body. To eat the power of that widow, so they can be strong themselves. Mothers were powerful, and she wished she was a mother with Knuckles so she could show men of all the things women can do for their children and husbands and still manage to be alive and in one piece. But she pushed that shard deeper and deeper inside him. The sound of his heart? It stopped suddenly. Because she pierced it, and no longer will it beat along with hers. No longer will it sing. This bird wasn't going to tweet any longer in its rib cage.

Her hands stained with blood. That was how the black widow dealt with business. It dissolved the remains of anyone that got inside its web, while spinning it around with its web of lies and sufferings and mistruths as the sufferer just screamed and continued to scream and finally it spread its venom and killed the man who apparently meant no harm. Was she insane? All black widows were. They don't care if they don't get their meal or if the person is larger and bigger than themselves, they were going to bite, and they were going to kill.

Sometimes she thought that the pain of her husband leaving her was too much to handle. She killed someone in cold blood. The pain was enough for her to consider suicide.

But no, the black widow had to continue to crawl. It had to continue weaving its web. It had to continue to kill, for the sake of its husband that was long gone. For the sake of the children it never got to have. For the lovely years that never came. Black meant death. And she knew as she realized she was a black widow, she was dead already. Her heart might as well cease to beat. But it still rang in its ribcage. And she wished sometimes it would stop. But it needed to move at light speed to function. It needed to realize the pain that it continually felt. It needed to feel the blood rush, of both the feeling of killing and both the other heart of whoever she was biting. It was all for you Knuckles. It was all for you Knuckie. I will continue to bleed for you. I will continue to kill and die for you. I will make you alive again, with the blood of so many others.

She shredded an hour glass on his body. So everyone will know of the black widow's name. So everyone will know of the web she weaved, of the suffering she was experiencing. Her hands were stained with blood, and they always will for the love of her life, her husband, her Knuckie, oh she will always love him, forever until death did she part.

They continued to walk. The moon was fading to the amber sky, and it was about dawn's turn to face it. The clouds thought the stars and the moons had saw enough.

As Amy walked further, she saw more blood, blackened by the sun that was still hidden by the white sharp mountains. And the more they walked, she saw more gore and bloodshed and suffering. There were dead bodies, some with swords stuck to their chests, some with their eyes gouged out, some with their entrails leaking, some that couldn't deal with this war any longer so they turned to suicide. Some that had the shape of an hourglass on their bodies. It was the most wretched sight that Amy saw. And one she hoped to never see again. But as they walked further, there were more dead people. The trees were streaked with blood. Some had the bodies lined up against it. Some ravens have feasted on their dead carcasses, pulling out their eyes and intestines. And as they walked further, they flew away, blood decorating their feathers with red tips. All the world decided to wear blood today. Rhyiuk was an Easterner, so he was used to this much bloodshed, as he probably used to enlist himself in their armies (most Easterners did. It was how the kingdom functioned, after all). And Sonic wasn't fazed either. His heart was still too black to turn to red on all the red in this world.

Amy had tears welled in her eyes. She was never used to seeing this much blood, this much suffering. She was a princess, after all. Everything was supposed to be grand and marvelous and filled with riches and delicacies and love from her father and all the people. But now she saw the very reality of life. How many people were dying for the dragonfly's heart, for her sister, for the prejudice the East had for everyone. And so much began to hit her, making her brain crawl, making her tears stream down, and she cried so much for the fallen soldiers, for every one of them even if their reasons for fighting were different, her golden heart couldn't bear the pain and it sung a sorrowful song that even Sonic could hear, the real, the kind Sonic that everyone used to know.

He held her hand, grasping it firmly and letting his fingers curl up with hers as she cried, and said, "This is war, Rose. It isn't fair, it isn't fun, it isn't nice to see at all. But now you know how serious this is. People are dying under the human's and the goddess's war. The Easterners struck the South and the West first, then the South struck, then when the North heard their allies were in trouble and that the South attacked them, they struck. And now all the kingdoms are involved. We must hurry and find the dragonfly's heart and maybe we can change their mind on this battle. I can't tell you how we can do that Rose, it is for you to decide."

"But…but…" Her tears choked her voice. "I don't know how I can get this war to stop. What can I do to stop them? I…I don't know how to do anything, Sonic…I'm…just a princess. Just a…girl, one who's weak and not as wise as you think."

"No you're not, Rose," he said firmly. "You're a woman. You grew up as we went on this journey. And now I know you have everything in your power to stop this battle. All you have to do is to do what you think is right. And everything will unfurl before you. And despite what the cruel side of me thinks, I think women are more powerful than people give them credit for. After all, they are the ones who can create life. Men seem to be the ones who destroy life, as you see them doing right now. But they are the balance keepers, making sure that more life is born than destroyed. I think with you, this world will be going through a rebirth. And you will be the one who will do the honors, Rose. All I ask of you is to do what you think is right. And soon, the world will turn into ashes, but then it will gain wings and be reborn again. That is what I think."

The emotions, and his words, were too much for her. She clasped him, burying her body into his fur, and as he stroked her, she cried and said, "I'm sorry Sonic. I'm sorry about all of this. I wished I was a better person for you. I'm sorry for everything…"

"No, you don't need to be sorry. You're impressing me, actually. The cruel side of me is beginning to lighten up to you, we are getting closer to the dragonfly's heart (I can feel it in my veins, Rose), and we are both in one piece. You are much stronger than what you were when we first started, Rose. I'm quite proud of you. I can feel that things will be much tougher for us, but if we are brave, those things won't have the power to defeat or scare us. Just do what is right for all of these kingdoms, and I assure you, the world will be reborn. You will be this forest's new goddess."

She sobbed loudly, as Sonic continued to hold her tightly. Rhyiuk was surprised at his complete transformation, but said nothing, as if he knew all along. _Oh Princess Rose, this is what the East has to deal with on a daily basis, and this is why I must leave. This is why I must leave my home to the North, the place your father promise you will make into a home._

The morning sun began to rise, the world beginning to shine in ribbons of gold, the mist hiding the gore and the bodies that laid beside them. Their hearts, at that moment, was as golden as that sun, and they ringed as Sonic sang the song that Amy sang so long ago, like the mornsunbirds that were chirping as the sun continued to crawl through the blood red sky, as bloody as the men's bodies.

_Don't cry little one, don't be afraid_

_Don't be afraid of your emotions_

_Trapping you in a mental cage_

_We are still here, you and me_

_And I will protect you, don't be scared to look and see_

_We will hold hands until the jaylark sings_

_Until the sun and moon are a'hanged over the trees_

_Our bodies are united, we will never part_

_We will fly together, I will take you under my wing_

_And you will forever know of_

_A dragonfly's heart_

A red dragonfly flitted between them, mottled with black spots. It knew that very soon, the world was ending. Dragonflies knew, it could feel it in the shining blue and pink trees and they told him so, but it also knew that the heart inside him was beating louder, and so did their golden hearts. They beat with the promise that maybe the world wasn't going to end. And maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be alright.


	18. Chapter 18

The afternoon sun was a gleaming golden gem in the sky, running with the rich blood in its veins. The mist descended as soon as the sun sank lower, telling it needed to be away for another day. It clung to Amy's dress for hours, a cloudy gown made of dew drops and pieces of the sky, but Amy took no notice. She was too busy looking for something that was worth more than the gem in the sky, worth more than the cloudy dress that was possibly worth thousands. She wanted life. She wanted to have blood running as deep as the red sky, and she wanted that blood to be warm. She wanted to give it to Sonic, the prince who was slowly gaining little of his heart as they traveled further, the fire in his heart burning brighter and brighter. But it was never enough. She wanted more of his heart. She wanted to see who he truly was on the inside, the egg about to crack further and further, but she could never see the phoenix that wanted so desperately to come out. And time was running out. As they kept walking more of his fur was becoming scales and his feet were ripping through his royal shoes. They were clawed, and those shoes simply had no room, no place for his monstrous feet. She thought to herself that she only had a few more days to find the heart. Lest she would be dead, and as soon as his heart became black soot, his mind will become black soot too.

They traveled all through the afternoon and the night, Amy feeling that she was getting closer, but not enough. No distance was ever enough. It was always further and further away the more they got close. Maybe Rhyiuk felt the same way she thought. His son was sick with paralysis. The flower they were looking for was getting further from his reach, always drifting away in the wind, in the world of Not There. Very rarely did ever these things go to the world of Here, on Planet Earth. They were probably off at another planet, in another galaxy. Amy didn't know very much about these things, as her father never seemed to teach her enough about the things she was curious about, but she thought of a world filled with many flowers that cured diseases and dragonfly's hearts. Was it a world without strife? There would be no sickness, no war, no politics, no prejudice. Just a peaceful planet where everyone lived peacefully. She wished this world was like this. She wished that there was no more bloodshed and no more broken bones and no more hate and no more death. But unfortunately, nobody told her that such a thing couldn't happen. There was far too much to care about in this world, far too many things that were precious to people, and care often led to conflicting views and the precious things would always be destroyed somehow and this often led to disagreements and murder and war.

But even if we told her, she wouldn't listen. She was deaf to rationality. She was a princess, after all. Most princesses were never born with such rationality to know such ideals could never be reality.

But still, she dreamed. She dreamed even when she was awake, as she ate curl tails with Rhyiuk and Sonic. There were plenty of them in their bags, as Rhyiuk claimed he always hunted for food. He had no choice he said. Or he and his son would be starving that night.

She thought about the East. Yes, most of them were cruel and cold-blooded and would never bat an eye at skinning alive an innocent creature with fur and skin simply because they were different. But there were some like Rhyiuk, who were as different as the creatures they claimed to hate. He wished to live in a different kingdom because the East never had enough of anything. Not enough food, not enough space, not enough medicines, not enough people to call your own. He revealed to Amy that he wanted to live in the North with his son, as the North had enough of those things for him to call it a home. The East was too much of a police state he said. You could never say anything bad about the king of the North; else you would be tortured by the king's very own men. And people would throw things and sneer and call you scum, simply because you didn't like the man who ran the kingdom.

"Everyone doesn't like everyone," he said. "If there was even a child who said even something he thought would be funny to his friends that involved the king, they would torture even a small child. The East wasn't right." And the North was the only place he thought he would be accepted in.

"And what do you want to do when you get to the North? Any ideas?" she asked.

"This may sound strange but…I think I can get myself a small job that will be enough to feed my son and I if I work enough there. I want to be an owner of a candy shop. I want to learn how to make candies so good it can make children all over the kingdoms smile. Buttercreams that bring delight on their tongues. Gum that doesn't taste like rubber when you chew it, and you want to keep chewing it over and over again, like the gums I heard they had in the human world. I want chocolate everything there, chocolate bugs, chocolate bars, chocolate long ears long legs, chocolate cookies fresh from the oven. Because if you can make children all over the world happy, it is one step closer to peace in all the kingdoms. But I need money to open up a shop like that. I don't have it. So I would have to do something to get that money, but I'm not sure what it would be."

"That's…different." Those were the only words Amy could manage to say. An Easterner who wanted to bring happiness to children…it was something very rare to find. And she couldn't form any words, any letters floating out of her mouth, any utterances or actions. An Easterner who wanted peace was a spectacle to behold, and even such things she could never find the right choice of anything to say or do. It was just a solid fact, floating into the space around them, that Easterners had souls, that they had a shred of kindness inside them when they're children, but once they grow up, it burns away, and it would be never found again.

Amy was surprised that Sonic was mostly quiet throughout the night, eating his roasted curl tail in silence. His red eye glimmered over them, watching them suspiciously, but there wasn't a single word uttered from his mouth. And it remained that way when they slept in their makeshift tents, Sonic still silent and watching over the campsite's ebbing embers, watching for metallic butterflies. But their existence was nothing now. Their creator got frustrated and possibly destroyed every one of them. No more dazzling steel butterflies in the night sky like stars, sharp like the blades of teeth in a swamp dragon, destroying and killing and sucking the life juices from all the animals and people who lived in these woods and making it snow and making us remind ourselves of our soon-to-be-dead husbands. They were gone now, and Sonic was glad, because these creatures were useless, and annoying.

And he fell asleep, his tail now curled up as he lay on his back, as if it needed to sleep too. His claws retracted, and he wasn't a beast. At least for a while. He dreamed, like Amy was doing now. Like most hedgehogs did.

Amy talked to Rhyiuk over the fire, the smoke drifting to the far reaches of the forest. They talked of many things, as Amy thought that Rhyiuk was a very interesting person to talk to. All Sonic would've talked about was how useless she was, and she thought that got boring after a while.

"My son, Rhyium…he is the only thing I live for now, Rose. My wife passed away a long time ago, and she was the only thing I lived for, and now he is the one I live for. If I didn't have him, I wouldn't know what to do with my life. Sometimes people just need another one to protect, and it makes them feel whole. I think that's the only way I could feel whole, making him and other children like him happy. I'm planning to name the store after him, so one day, when I'm old and my bones are too tired, he can take over the store and be as happy as I would be making those children happy. I really hope he doesn't experience all the hardships that come with being an Easterner…working in the mines at a young age, being in that army that's so ruthless and bloodthirsty they don't care if they kill women and children, and all the hunger and diseases. I didn't want to raise him that way. I've told you this many times I know, but that's why I have to go to the North. The North may not be perfect, but it's a better way to raise him. Do you think one day you'll have children, Miss Rose?"

"Well, maybe one day," she said. "If the child is a girl, I'm going to name her after my sister who died a few years ago. If he's a boy…well…"

"Well?"

"I want to name him Sonic the Second."

He was taken aback, looking at the now sleeping Prince Sonic, looking so peaceful. For now, until he woke up.

"Are you telling me that…you love Prince Sonic?"

"Yes. I'm afraid I do."

"But why, Amy? He is a cruel hedgehog! He treats you like dirt and keeps denouncing your gender and everything you stand for! Why on Earth would you be interested in him? He's not the hog you need to be with!"

"But you've seen him when he didn't have the curse taking effect on him, right? I know inside, there's someone who's kind and who loves me very much and is willing to be on my side for as long as we both live. He's just sick. And I need to take care of him until he's cured. If I find the dragonfly's heart, he will be that prince again, and I'm sure I'll be able to find my happily ever after. I'm sure you will find yours once you find the flower that can cure Rhyium. We must both take care of our loves until they're better. We can't give up on them no matter how frustrating this is, right?"

"I guess so. But what if you don't find the dragonfly's heart? What if you die? Or someone else takes it? Then what will you do?"

"Then I still have to be with him. I decided that. Maybe even without the dragonfly's heart I can cure him. I'm sure there's a way. He started lighting up to me a little when I hunted for a long ears long legs. Maybe there's another way of doing this without doing the usual solution, the stuff you find in books and they expect you to follow their rules. Maybe there's always a better way of doing something, thinking outside of those books. Being different. And I think there's also a much better way to cure him."

"And what better way would that be?"

"Love, my friend," she said. "Love."

Her name was Elise Blackhawk. Ever since she was a small child, born to human parents who were expecting their great happy bundle of joy, she was chosen to be a witch by the Hearts and Dreams Witches and was taken to these woods to live out here for the rest of her life. The Council said so. The ones who say which human had to make their power grow by sacrificing their love and trust to steal everyone else's love and trust. And on this day, in October 12th, 2031, she was going to die. She was going to kill herself, and she decided this would be the way she would go out like an open flame transmuting to smoke from the cold wind. She will have to die, for all the hearts she stole, for the one she loved that she made into a monster, for the trade that she no longer wanted to be in. The only way out was by suicide. The way out for many people who had their hearts stolen. And when she was chosen to take this job when she was just a baby, her heart was stolen too. So her death would be no different.

She barely had more years to go anyways. She was about 80 years old with this body. She was bound to kick the bucket any day now. She considered it an assisted suicide. Pulling the plug. She didn't have anything to live for. Just living in this decrepit body, regretting everything she ever did, looking back on the past like a photo album from Hell. It was time for her to go if this would be all her life would amount into. It was time for her to die.

She only lived 18 years of her pathetic life. She was bound to be immortal and 18 for the rest of her life with how many hearts she contracted. But until she met that damn hedgehog, until she met the one who made her old and decrepit and guilty and dead, this would've never happened. Hell, she might've enjoyed being a witch. But turns out all the fun ended. Being a witch wasn't fun at all. You took the only thing that made people alive to make yourself alive. And she thought she couldn't cope with that. So kicking the bucket she will do. It was full of her shit and piss from being so damn old anyways that kicking it would be like freedom for her.

She carved a message on the tree near her, using her shaking, arthritic hands to carve something for the entire world to see, so everyone would know that she was there, she was here, on planet Earth, and the Council made her suffer. And a certain hedgehog made her suffer too, but she wasn't going to call him a damn hedgehog anymore. She was going to be nice to him for once. Like she was in the past, before she became this wicked old hag. The lines looked like blocks, oh her hands hurt too much as the bones were porous and yellow, but she made her message, and when she thought the message looked good enough, she took the knife and jabbed it into her neck, cutting a neat clean line in her jugular, the blood pouring out like the sun's blood in the sky, and very quickly, she was dead. And the Council didn't grieve. This was what she got for breaking the rules of the Council they said. It was good that she was dead. Good riddance.

On the tree was written, as she fell to the forest floor with her blood streaming forth, gagging and gurgling:

**FOR EVERYONE'S HEART I TOOK, I AM DEEPLY SORRY, AND I HOPE THIS WILL MAKE UP FOR ALL THE PAIN I MADE YOU GO THROUGH, BUT IT PROBABLY WON'T. AND AGAIN I'M SORRY.**

**ONE DAY SONIC, YOU WILL READ THIS, AND I WANTED TO SAY THAT WHEN I MET YOU, I LOVED YOU. I HOPE YOU FIND THAT GIRL'S GOLDEN HEART. I HOPE YOU WILL BE HAPPY AGAIN. I'M SORRY THAT I TOOK AWAY YOUR HAPPINESS AND KINDNESS. I HOPE YOU WILL FIND IT AGAIN, AND MAYBE IT WILL BE WITH THE GIRL. BUT I COULD NEVER BE THAT GIRL. I AM TOO WICKED. AND FOR THAT, I AM DEEPLY, AND UTTERLY SORRY.**

**ELISE**

And she drew a crude dragonfly, with wide eyes and wings, and a heart as its body. The symbol of the entire kingdom in Neo Geo Forest. Her heart, and the dragonfly's, went out to them.

It was morning again. And Sonic awoke. Amy and Rhyiuk spent half the night talking, so they slept a little later, until the morning sun drifted like a dream in the sky, the sky with the rich red blood streaming forth in its veins and arteries. But Sonic thought that he wanted someone to sleep forever, the blood streaming in the tent. He didn't sleep much either, as his eyes were even redder, maddened with eavesdropping and learning The Truth. Was she in love with him? She better be, that scum, that worm, that pretty, beautiful wench, else there would be nothing in his life to live for. He had nothing. Just Amy Rose, and their happily ever after she promised him. That was the only thing he had to look forward to, and he wasn't going to make anyone else get a chance at that dream of living with a fair prince and riding in a pumpkin carriage with white horses and wearing a glass slipper that only fit her and he thought she was the one he's been looking for all his life. Amy was his and his alone. He could see the trust building between them and he thought this was something that had to be destroyed. Taken with his sharp claws and scratched until it bled. The lizard man had to die this morning, and him and Amy could just run into the woods together living out their happily ever after wearing her glass slippers and living in a pumpkin carriage with white horses that were as great and respectable as Nanaka (Oh poor Sonic, he still hasn't gotten over the pain of losing his childhood horse, oh Nanaka…), if she so loved him like she claimed. Rhyiuk was full of crock he thought to himself. Making children happy, having his wife die a few years ago and only have his son to live for, wanting to live among the North and be accepted as their own…it was nothing but a feed of lies given to the pigs. He knew Rhyiuk had intentions of killing Amy. All Easterners were the same. Every single one of them. They craved blood and they will get it with their claymores and axes. They will sharpen them against the skin, rub it against the fur, and the blood will crawl like little red spiders. That was how Rhyiuk will react, and Sonic was going to butcher his head and sell it to the pigs. This piggy went to the market to buy lizard meat. This piggy found out the once kind Prince Sonic killed someone that Amy thought was a respectable lizard. And this piggy went wee wee wee all the way home, back to the North Kingdom. _Damn her!_

His tail gripped his sword tightly, the blade glaring a white light under the sun and reflecting off in the tent. The clouds and mist had to hide their faces, because once again there was more violence, more bloodshed, and it couldn't bear to let the others watch. They were only so young. They were only so bright until that innocence was smoldered.

He raised it into the air, the blade and the tail ready to sell the meat, ready to make the cut to sell to the pigs then he swung it down with all his might, the blade ready to guillotine his head._ Make her wee back to the North Kingdom with his head served as steak!_ It came thundering down to his body, and he heard a loud _Thwack! _As he could feel the cut of muscle and scales.The sword hit the ground, and he assumed that his job as the butcher was done, and he could go home after his break.

Rhyiuk yelled, his head still intact. He was still very much alive, and now he was very angry, and very much wanting Sonic to be dead. He dodged the sword as he expected nothing more from the cruel Prince Sonic, and one of his fingers was cut off from the swing, shriveling and groveling like a worm that crawled from the earth and was being baked by the sun, blood seeping from the stump of his index finger. It was a clean cut. But Rhyiuk was not dead, and his head was still there. He reached for his claymore, with his right hand that still had all of its fingers, and his teeth flashed as he bared all of his fangs and he quickly grabbed his body and put him in a headlock, his sword ready to make his head ready for the pigs that were so hungry. There was no possible way that the fair Princess Rose could ever love a man as vile as Prince Sonic he thought, as he imagined cutting him open and having his blood spurt like a fountain. _It was about time that he had to be brought to death. Oh Prince Sonic, it was nice knowing you, but you were a cruel heartless hedgehog that nobody would ever miss. Not even the fair Princess Rose. In fact, she might even be glad to see you gone. Maybe she'll love another hedgehog more worthy than you._

Amy awoke. Even if she was groggy from the grubby hands of sleep, she saw the sight that her eyes never wanted to see ever since she met Sonic, and she reached for the gun, the sheen of it glowing under the sun that was the witness to all this fighting and strife, and she clicked it and it was loaded, aimed directly to Rhyiuk's head.

"You take that sword away from Sonic's head or else yours is going to get a blast of lead if you don't back off."

"And why Amy?" he growled. "He was trying to kill me, and I'm very sure he's going to kill you next! I was doing you a favor; I'm trying to save your life!"

"No Rhyiuk, you're _taking _my life away from me. Put the sword down or else I'll have no choice but to kill you, and we don't want that, right? You have a son to take care of. And Sonic is the one _I_ have to take care of. Imagine this is your son right now. Would you want to kill the only thing you claimed you lived for, like what you said when we talked last night? After your wife passed away years ago, after my father banished me from his kingdom? Then I suggest you get out of here."

"But I really am saving your life, Rose. While my intentions about my son and the dream I'm holding in my head are true…I am here to take you back to your father." He swallowed, as Sonic continued to try to escape. His arms were too thick, so he wasn't worried about him escaping as he continued to speak, his voice sounding serene like there wasn't a gun to his head. "I want you to live back to the good life, without worrying about dying the next day or if you're going to have food in your stomach, or even if the love of your life is going to stab you in the back. Your father misses you, Rose. He's sick now. And he needs you."

"Wait…" She lowered her gun. The news of her father, possibly near death for all she knew, was enough for her to change the subject. Even if her father banished her, she still loved him, and she couldn't stand the thought of him on the bed, suffering, while she was gone. Rhyiuk made the sword a little more distant, but he still held onto him. He couldn't trust him, after all. He probably was going to murder him the very second he was let go.

"What do you mean he's sick? What happened to my father? Is there something wrong with him?"

"Yes, very wrong." His voice was now becoming a mere whisper. Quiet. "He's trying to make himself a daughter to replace you. He's in denial that you're still alive. He's becoming a little like the people in the asylums, and he happens to be the North's king. Your father is very sick, very sick in the head, and you have to come back to the kingdom. It's the only way he'll ever get better. I have told the king's men that you will be here along with Prince Sonic; they will arrive at any moment now to take you and him back to the North. You will live happily with your father, and Sonic will be killed, for the rotten piece of waste he is. You don't need a hedgehog like him in your life. He's cruel. He's heartless. He's mad. You need a better life Rose, and I'm trying to give that to you. Please go back to the North and forget all about the dragonfly's heart. It's a business that princesses should never stick their nose in. They should be worried about their royalty and their father. It's too much of a bloody affair."

"No! _No damn you, no!_" She raised the gun again. He could hear the clicking noise inside of it.Her hand was on the trigger, and he could also feel the small spark ready to ignite the bullet that was about to travel in his head, at 90 miles an hour. "You don't understand! You didn't understand _a damn thing _I told you, didn't you? I _need_ to find the dragonfly's heart for Sonic. I _promised him_!" Her voice crackled like that little fire in that gun, and he thought it was going to flicker and flare up, any minute now. "I _promised_ him that I will make him the man he used to be! You can't take _him_ away from me; I will not allow my father to _kill_ him! _Please_ let him go and get out of my sight before I think about pulling the trigger! _Please get the hell out of here!_"

There were tears in her eyes, and the gun began to shake. Sonic stopped struggling and saw that the wench, the wench who he secretly thought could never be broken down by anything, _especially _him, was crying. She still kept the gun close to his head, hearing that spark, that little bullet that was inside the musket, shaking rapidly. And it rattled. _Rattle rattle rattle. _And the princess herself was as rattled as the gun.

Even if he was sympathetic to her love and suffering, he smiled, showing his ugly, bladed teeth. "So be it. But you're missing out on a golden opportunity right now, Rose. The king's men are still going to come here and take you away, so you better run as fast as you can, and never look back. You better run until your legs can barely stick to you, until they're about ready to fall off and the moon howlers will take them and feast upon them. Because the king's men know the only cure to his disease, and it's you and the blood of Sonic, so if you want your father to be insane like the men who are chained up in the asylum and never see the light of day, _you_ better get the hell out of here."

Silence filled the tents. He could no longer hear the rattling, or the heavy breathing from the princess. Even Sonic was quiet, observing her until she replied. "I will. Thanks for warning me. Even if you love your son, I still think you're the one who's the piece of waste, for trying to kill someone who I loved and who I live for about as much as your son. To take that away from someone…it is about as cruel as Sonic's heart is."

He let go of Sonic. He was no longer concerned about killing the lizard man, even if he held him for so long and made his wench cry, but he kept his sword sheathed as he walked out of the tents with Amy. His red eye shined as he took one last look at the beast that nearly killed him, and even if his heart was black, he thought he could only eye him with pity, and a little respect.

Maybe the tears got through to him. Maybe it made his heart glow a little. But for making the wench cry, he thought he wanted to never see this creature again.

The morning sun was glazed, the mist corroding the forest floor, and the two of them traveled further into the forest, running. There once were three. And now there were only two. They have been betrayed again, and Sonic's mistrust, his paranoia, was correct. Amy thought as they ran and traversed through the forest's hills she didn't want to hear him saying of how much he was right and how women should always listen to men, because women were stupid, stupid creatures who knew nothing, but Sonic said nothing, and wanted to only say nothing. Although his demon abilities allowed him to run like a blue blur, he stayed near Amy, and kept close to her as they went deeper into the forest where the trees were black and curved. He could've abandoned her, he could've gone back and killed the beast who threatened his life, but somehow, he knew that ultimately, it wouldn't be wise. Because even if his heart was black, a machine, a stone, cold and frozen, anything he thought he could describe it as, maybe he was beginning to grow sense, and beginning to grow warmer in his feelings towards her. While his love bordered on the realm of psychosis, he thought that maybe, just maybe, there was something in this forest worth fighting for after all.

As Amy edged closer as they ran, he felt her arm brushing up next to him, and he gripped it, tenderly and tight. His scales and clawed feet and hands still remained, but his heart changed. As they dashed, feeling the heart beat of the forest becoming louder and louder in their ears, Amy's heart beat became quicker, matching with it, and she felt the exhilaration, the joy of being in love, the endorphins that was pumping to their brains as they worked their legs, and she wanted to holler along with him, and laugh and sing and maybe even kiss under the bold sun. They were on the run, but they were also in love, and she thought that this was a fun feeling, a good feeling, something she never experienced before, and they soon vanished under the darkness of the tree's curving spines and body, the sun unable to peek past them.

The king's men arrived at the tents much later, Rhyiuk reporting that they were there, or well sirs, they used to be, they just ran off in the woods over yonder and you could probably go after them if you watch their footsteps. Now remember, one of them looks like clawed feet you can't miss it sirs they're just way over there! They were confused, and bewildered, and angry, that the creature that promised them he could bring back the precious Amy Rose and be the antidote to the North King's madness, and bring back the North's order and be a hero among them, lied to them, and that there wasn't a single trace of the princess or the prince they so wanted to kill, and the leader of the men turned beet red as an Easterner, a creature that threatened to kill all of the ones with skin and fur, made a fool out of them, and the leader never wanted to be fooled. He considered himself a logical, rock hard man who could never be tricked by the likes of these hideous creatures with forked tongues and scales and claws.

"This Easterner is lying about their whereabouts! Amy Rose and Prince Sonic aren't here at all! What are you trying to do, you disgusting beast, trying to make this whole thing seem like a game? There's no excuse for this! Our king is very sick, very mercurial and ill and mad, and this is how you repay us after we promised you if you found his daughter and the prince who was going to kill her, that we would give you enough money so you could open up some shop of some kind, as if you would blend in with us? Wicked Easterners, the lot of you! I don't care if we're allied with them and they bring us the many weapons that allow us to be alive, you are a disgusting scaled piece of shit and I should kill you right now at this very spot! I'm sure this is what the king would exactly order if you defiled him like you just did with me!"

The room fell silent, the wind whispering between the eaves of the tent. Even if he claimed he would be friends with these creatures who abhorred him and called him these words and phrases and wouldn't give him a home, he smiled again. His fangs were bared again, sharp white knives. "And you think you want to do that? Come on, I don't have anything else to live for now. Challenge me. Make me an offer I can't refuse. Take me away, into the Forest Goddesses' grave. I would happy if you did."

The leader lifted his sword and lunged towards him, laughing and shouting, deep within Rhyiuk's ear, that he was ready, that he was always ready, that he thought all Easterners should be dead, and that he was so happy to kill him. Rhyiuk heaved his claymore, waiting for him to inch closer, then swung it, the sword slicing through his body and he became two red pieces, two slabs of meat, his entrails leaking out and the man's laughter still rang in his ears, his head forever an imprint of manic joy, manic happiness, at the very thought of killing a creature that was different than his own species. This was something that would forever be in Rhyiuk's mind as he swiftly dashed out of the tent and into the woods beyond him, the king's men sitting on their horses' saddles and hearing them whinny over the laughter, and he realized now that not only was the hunt on both Princess Rose and Prince Sonic, but now he would be on trial in the Northern Kingdom, for the murder of a creature he never knew but threatened his life anyways. And he thought over his laughter, over the horses' whinny, he could also hear the sick king of the North, announcing now that they were in war with the East, and that many of his kind, maybe even his son, were going to die.

His dreams and aspirations were gone. They were gone in a fleeting moment, running faster than him and Amy Rose and Sonic, in a blue blur. He loved them as much as he knew them, and now his son was the only person he could think of living for now. If it wasn't for him, he would've sliced his own head. Assisted suicide. For the pigs that went wee wee wee all the way home.


	19. Chapter 19

The black widow was coming from the darkness, a lurking shadow, already feasted on so much blood, so much wine that fermented her madness, her rage, her confusion, her questions on why her husband was ready to die. But she kept drinking, thinking she would find her answer somewhere between the 8th and 18th drinks. _So__much__glass__of__wine__Rouge,__are__you__going__to__stop__sometime?_No, she would say. She wanted more. Hell, she _needed_more. It was what ran in her system, in place of her own actual blood. It was what kept her mind running in its same loops, the same mobius strips of thought, her same brain trying to tell her what was fantasy and what was reality. Sometimes the two blended together. Sometimes she wanted the colors to run a little bit before she realized where exactly she was at. Sometimes you need a little madness to go through life. Sometimes you needed some chaos in all the order. And she placed another hourglass mark on his face. Another man down, with the kiss of the black widow. This one was such a special case to her. She took her knife and sliced him around the neck and let all the blood run down like rain from the rooftops in the other kingdoms. _A__bloody__rainy__day__it__seems__like__today_she said to no one in particular in her head. She thought she heard voices sometimes. Other people who inhabited in her. Sometimes they told her to not do or do something, and sometimes she listened to them. They were usually the voice of her husband communicating with her, telling her that all these people deserved to die, they needed to be sliced at the neck and the hourglass mark needs to be there so she could tell the world who she was. The black widow was a dangerous woman, and she felt like she was sobering up a little. She was going to need more red wine. More bloody Mary's.

The pink quilled bitch. Where was she headed to now? Possibly more into the woods, probably further than her to find the dragonfly's heart. After all, she backtracked a little to get her new gun, but she was quick and only living off her tea and a few snacks she managed to get pretty far here. But while she wished she could congratulate herself on catching up with the damn bitch so quick, there was another problem. No quilled bitches stealing her gun or a demonic creature who used to been a hedgehog threatening to kill her, but she was the demonic one now. She could barely recognize herself as she looked in the small rain puddles around her. Her hair was in wispy strands, dirty, unkempt, and her hands and face were bloodied, the sprays of their life spilling all over her and making her a deep cinnabar red. She never bothered to clean herself, and in one moment of rational thought, she thought of all the people she attacked, seeing this bat woman who had crazed eyes and bloody hands and a bloody face and hair that would've had them mistake her for a hedgehog. And in that one split second before seeing this crazed picture that appears in a flash of lightning, then slip back into the darkness, they were dead. And they never even got to say goodbye to _their_families. To _their_women who could turn into a black widow too. Or perhaps they were one now. The black widow was feeding on all of its victims and breeding more of its deadly influence.

Even in these moments, these crazed flashes of lightning, she forgot her name. She forgot her age. She sometimes even forgot why she killed these men. They would light up in a flash of hot fiery white, then they would slip into pure dark madness again.

But the pink bitch. She bet she wouldn't go insane. She bet she would find the dragonfly's heart and marry her happily ever after. But Rouge never gets hers. What a selfish little brat. She chased her away with the gun and she never got to help her husband, her little ol' Knuckie boy. If she told her the real reason why she needed the dragonfly's heart, she thought she would pity her and see her as the weak woman she was. Was the bitch, the wench weak? Well, it did take a few guts to kill that giant metallic butterfly, something that she could've never done while in her state of mind. Amy was the only one immune to madness and insanity. She was always the voice of reason.

And maybe…

If she told her the real reason she needed the dragonfly's heart…

She would help her…

Then when the time would come…

Stab her.

Stab her until her guts were red and her face was red and everything else was cinnabar red, and she could give her the sign of the black widow too. And she was sure Sonic couldn't survive without her. Slowly, he was diving deeper and deeper into the sea of madness. Amy was becoming the only reason why he wanted to live. He was nothing but a crazed, but hurt animal in a cage. A fox-o-lox that sneers and growls whenever you stuck your hand in. But stab it, and it won't hurt you any longer. They were useless to technology. They were useless to rationality and intelligence. She knew she didn't have any of that rationality anymore, but when planning a kill, she always planned carefully. An animal on the verge of hunger (for the red wine, for the bloody Mary's), and on the verge of rage and wanting sweet revenge was always careful. Even fox-o-loxes, even the same one she would put in a cage, would be careful and cunning if it was hungry and angry and had room to roam.

She needed everyone else's blood for hers to start running in her brain again.

It was time to take Amy's blood. It was time for her to die.

She ran deeper in the forest, hiding her knife, getting rid of the blood stains on her face and gloves in the mud puddles. She wanted to make herself seem hurt. Damaged by the battles she faced. She had to make herself presentable before she closed in on the kill.

They ran, as fast as their feet could possibly take them on claws and on shoes that were worn out and thin, even if the rocks and pebbles began to make their feet bleed. The morning's sunlight tried to reach out to them, grab them, tell them that they didn't need to run anymore, but it could do nothing as they were quick moving black streaks against white tiles. A forest Rorschach. Amy noticed that his clawed arms were in hers, and they weren't hurting her. They were tenderly gripping onto her, as he took her further into the woods, deeper into the darkness, deeper into the shouting of creatures and scratching and clawing and biting, and even if their hands were enveloped, hearing and feeling the golden hearts beating, there would be no more love in this forest. Not in this end. She could tell the blood of the hogs got thicker, the sun beat lower and was hotter, and the only thing that was kind and warm would be the dragonfly's heart. The thing she was wanting all along. The thing that could bring back Sonic and make him the man she wholly believed he was. But she realized even the cold Sonic was beginning to love her, holding her hands so tight as they ran, that she felt like shouting to the world that they were in love midst this fighting and war, and even if they were running from men who wanted to bring her journey to a sudden stop, she felt a sudden exhilaration, a sudden joy in running for so long. Maybe it was the endorphins being pumped into her brain. Maybe the wind was making her breathe all this love he was breathing out. Whatever it was, she wanted to scream for all the forest to hear, but it wouldn't be in pain, but in just seeing how loud her voice was and could anyone miles away could hear her.

She wanted to laugh too, laugh and smile with Sonic and make it seem like everything was okay, and frolic in the fields along with the butterflies with their curtain wings and the sunlight making their silhouettes appear and dance. But they saw something in the distance. Muddy. A frayed appearance that made this thing that was walking along the forest trees seem like a monster that the humans would create. Like the swamp dragon horse and the metallic butterflies and the near dragon.

Its clothes were disheveled, nothing but rotten rags on its tired, reddened body, with caked dirt on its wings and hair. Its eyes looked dull. Tired. As if she faced a million battles, and she was all done with it and contemplated ending her life. Her hands had chewed up fingernails, bits and pieces of them missing obviously from the spitting and crunching of organic nylon. Organic plastic. Her face was organic clay, and it was missing a mold, her eyes were organic seaglass, but shattered. Her entire body was nothing but organic wired knots from rugs and scrap cloth that people would throw away once they were done cutting down the fabric to their perfect size and shape and thought nothing of it.

She realized who this was.

It was a bat. It was Rouge. And it looked like she was just in Hell.

Her wings, her wings made of organic aluminum, look at how much they couldn't fly anymore. Blood spattered and bruised. That was Rouge's saying. You couldn't do anything rough before you got blood spattered and bruised. And her eyes no longer looked like the sea, but cinnabar. She has been awake for three whole days. She was awake killing men and traveling further into the forest. Looking for the dragonfly's heart. Looking for the key piece in keeping her husband alive. Oh Knuckie, I will kill them in your honor. I will make sure your death doesn't go unavenged.

"Rouge…" She stopped, touching her wings, the burnt tar color of them, the organic rubber, and she gazed at them, her cinnabar eyes, looking hurt.

"…What happened to you? What went wrong? I know I chased you out, but…I can't stand seeing you like this. What happened?"

"Well, the batty bitch got what she deserved. I'm glad she got this way. Maybe next time she won't take advantage of us again."

"Shut up, Sonic," Amy whispered, a harsh stream of her breath hitting his face. He knew he had to listen to Amy if she was this upset. He hated the bat for what her committing treason against them, but he thought it was time he didn't upset Amy any longer. He had to shut up.

Her eyes, her broken seaglass, looked up to her, wearily, and she sighed, and began to speak. "I've seen a thousand men, Princess Rose, and many of them…well, they wanted to kill me. Rape me. Use me. Use me like a dried up dishcloth when you're wiping up other people's shit in a bathroom. This is what happens to a woman when she's used, Rose. This is what happens when you go to a land that's mostly filled with men, many of them beating their brains out in this so-called war of ours. As you can tell, I'm very tired of men. Very tired of them. And I'm sick and bloodied and bruised, and I only wanted the dragonfly's heart for my sick husband, the only man in my life I'm not sick of. My sick husband who's most likely dead by now."

"What do you mean…" She stopped, touching and prodding her wings again, her black tarred and ripped wings. She barely knew the woman she referred to as the "batty bitch", but it seemed like she had just as a legitimate reason to find the dragonfly's heart as much as anyone else. Her husband was sick. And dying. And from the look of her tired, molten eyes, she could tell that she loved him. Very much so.

"That's right. My husband. Dead. And I'm very tired. Exhausted. And I'm just about to blow my brains out just figuring out what to make of this mess. Do you understand, Amy Rose, the consequences of trying to save your loved one's life on this deadly road? The consequences on getting your head beat as much as the men, simply because you have breasts, simply because you're slightly different from them? The Forest Goddess couldn't make us equal Amy, but she tried for all of us to embrace those differences instead. Do you understand what I'm trying to say here? Do you get what I mean?"

Amy nodded, agreeing. That was what she was trying to say to people like Sonic all along. But yet they wouldn't listen. Their ears were deaf to rationality.

She reached for one of her pockets. Inside were rolled up pieces of paper and plants and tar. The West's cigarettes. She only smoked one once in a while, when she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. And she was smoking them much more than usual.

She breathed in, breathing all the plants the planters took on the farms, slaved over the hot menacing sun just to make and roll into pieces of paper made from another plant they had to farm and ache their backs over the heat that made their skin cinnabar, and she breathed out wispy, silver streams of smoke, perfectly calm while doing so. It made the nervous breakdown almost completely go away. Almost.

"You're just a kid, Amy. A kid who's getting herself into more trouble than what it's worth. This Sonic here, you might as well abandon him. He's going to turn into a demon, and he might kill you. And what did he say to do when he's a demon? Is there any way to kill him?"

She was a little nervous too. Maybe she needed a cigarette. But she was better than that. "He said I had to pull out his heart. That's the only way to kill him. Pull out his heart. And he said I had to pull it out no matter how much I cared about him."

As the smoke streamed out from her breath, she began to chortle, laugh, chuckle, a sinister snicker, at her situation. Even if it was a dark situation, pulling out her lover's heart. The red embers of the cigarette glowed, then faded again as she blew out one last blue puff, her mind coming together a little, made of organic glass, and she crushed it, rubbing out the fires. She didn't need to smoke the whole thing. That was when she was going to have another nervous breakdown. And she knew she was going to have another. Soon.

"If you're not going to abandon your dream, your love, I figure I might as well not either. My husband. Is he alive or dead? I don't know. But either way, I want to reach the center of the forest, and I just want to get there, to prove my husband that I did all I could to help him, and that I made it, even if I'm this broken, this weak, this whipped and beaten. But if you're so focused on finding the dragonfly's heart to cure Sonic…I guess I have no choice but to give it to you. That is, if after this whole bloody affair I can get a new set of clothes and wash my hair out and wash all this dirt off me. Men, they never learn. Except my husband. He learned that life can be unfair. And there's nothing I can really do about it. As for Sonic, he brought all of this to himself, but if you want to help him so damn much then I can't stop you and focus you back to your kingdom and your father. You probably hear it all the time dear, but princesses can't be involved in these messes. They're only children. I'm surprised you didn't get killed or raped, especially with your lover boy being the way he is."

"But I have no choice, do I? I told you this before Rouge, but I _have_ to help him. I _promised_ him. And when this is all over with, I'll get you a new pair of clothes and washed hair that's softer than before and my father can personally meet you and realize the West isn't so bad, that is, if you don't pull the same tricks as last time. I'll make Sonic guard me and if you try to pull something, I won't stop him from killing you. If it wasn't for the fact I feel sorry for you I wouldn't even have you here with me, so consider yourself lucky."

_I wouldn't stop myself from killing you either, you prissy bitch._

Her knife gleamed in the morning light. Her hands were itching to use it. But she had to consider her plan of action carefully. She couldn't stab her when Sonic was around. He would have no qualms at all slitting her neck, that stupid batty bitch who wanted to make the beautiful wench bleed. She had to do it when she was alone, alone in the black of night, in the organic sheets royal blue sheets with organic indigo, and she could kill her and the caged animal would be all alone, starving, then he would be dead too. And the dragonfly's heart would be hers. Hers to keep, and maybe she would eat it to cure her craziness. Maybe she would eat it to kill herself. Curing her numbness. Curing her true sickness, of being alive at this miserable planet. Maybe.

They walked as the sun continued to blaze over the sky, the sky turning a tangerine orange and a golden yellow as a little of the afternoon was awakening. Both Rouge and Amy barely had any time, as both of their loved ones were dying more and more as time went on. So they walked, deeper. Deeper into the forest.

His Frankenstein's monster was coming together. A beast that was imbued with his intelligence. The strength of a swamp dragon. The endurance of a dragonfly. The brutality of a tortured man who has seen too much, and never wanted to see another man hurt him ever again. And he thought that was the most dangerous kind of brutality. Psychotic. Ruthless and heartless. Spiraling towards depression and madness. When men were close to that ledge, there was no telling what they would do.

He knew. Because he's been there once. And so was some of his family. His grandfather.

He wanted to taste the wind and the glaring sun and the sea below as he wanted to jump from the cliff into the ocean, where the jutted rocks lied. And he would be stabbed to death by them like knives made of stone, bleeding into the water, and the fish would eat him. He thought he would be making a kind of statement. How the people who tortured him so, how they made him want to act upon this. Humpty Dumpty would have a great fall, and none of the king's men were going to clean up the mess. He would be cracked, bleeding, his brain, his yolk, ruptured. Would his parents cry? Yes, but he didn't care. He stopped caring about them since he was down this spiral of self-hatred and anguish. No love could make him see the light. No love could make his eyes cut through all this darkness.

His grandfather was much the same. Ever since his granddaughter died, he wanted to jump that same ledge, and he left a suicide note before he drove up there with his black Cadillac, saying, "SAYONARA WORLD, SAYONARA HAPPINESS, AND HELLO TO GOD." But his son, his father, they alerted the authorities and he was taken by the police, where they claimed he was insane and he was put into a psychiatric ward for ten years. He was diagnosed with manic-depressive schizophrenia. Schizoaffective disorder. As all he did all day, every day, was write the name of someone named Maria, over and over on little slips of paper, and hide them all in his suitcase. He hasn't spoken a single word since ten years. He was considered mute by trauma.

But he wanted the entire world to burn down before he got that way. To go insane without a bang would be pathetic, a flame that went out without burning anything. He thought he could kill all these animals, make this city, and maybe he would make people mourn him in a grand old funeral by taking this gun to his head. Then he would be considered a national hero.

Attention-seeking was it? Maybe. But he didn't give a damn.

This creature that was slowly being birthed by this great machine he had, it was the monster that could end it all. The monster that would take down civilization and save another one. It was the monster that would make him free, make him say sayonara to the world and say hello to God.

Thinking about it, he never had very many memories of his grandfather. He remembered when he was sane before, before his granddaughter died, that he gave him a jar full of fireflies and told him how they could make a chemical that made their bottoms light up. But he was just uninterested and bored and didn't want to be with him in the first place. His memories with his grandfather, they just weren't very fond. Just the few brief years that he was sane, then that descent to madness with his suicide note and about to jump that same cliff he wanted to jump years later. At least his grandfather wasn't shaped like an egg. He should count his lucky stars. He should be grateful he even had women interested in him. Before the suicide threat, anyways.

The creature yawned, its slit eye gazing back at him. It looked into his eyes, and he said murder. Killing. Death. Destruction. I will make you proud daddy. I will make you proud.

It was a while since he wrote in his autobiography, but now he was into his present years. He wanted to record how he destroyed the forest of the animals and how the city came to be before he kicked the bucket. He sat down on his leather seat, cracked his knuckles, and began to write. The typewriter went _rat-a-tat-tat_and _ding_as he clacked madly, writing out more of his life story. He was very happy to tell this part. Oh how he was happy, how his head was just brimming with the golden madness that flowed like honey.

_And in case you forgot, but I'm sure you haven't, is that my name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik. I had loving parents, but they didn't make me into a man that some people think is the definition of a "good man". Some say I'm evil. Wicked. But wasn't God wicked too?_

_Because ladies and gentlemen, here, on July 16th, 2031, I have created my greatest creature yet, and remember this date very well my friends, because this was the date that I became a god._


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Here's a warning for those of you who were really excited for this chapter to come out, and that was I think I put way too much effort in this particular chapter. In other words, it's the longest chapter I've ever done so far. About 12,000 words, and I just thought it wouldn't make any sense if I split this chapter up. So you pretty much have a really long chapter to read. Though I promise you, this story is close to being finished and the rest of the chapters are hopefully going to be the size of average chapters I think. Hopefully I'll get this story done before November and you might have the final chapter on Halloween SPOOKY HUH OOOOOOOOOOOH okay hopefully the size of it won't scare you off.**

The sun was buried deep within the forest's navel. No light could poke through the holes between the trees, their limbs long and thick, the orbs black as tar and soot, none to lead their way. The darkness covered them, a shroud of black velvet, no stars peeking from the moon's world from underneath. The three travelers, Sonic, Rouge, and Amy, continued to press on deeper inside the forest, Sonic cutting the bushes that were in the way, their orbs also black as midnight, and it gave them the feeling that inside the forest, something was lurking. Something that was as bright as the stars, as bright as the heart hidden deep inside Sonic, the heart that Amy had all along, the knife that Rouge had deep inside her pocket. The dragonfly's heart was near. Amy could feel the heart's beating in her hands as she touched the trees and the branches, feeling the thumping, feeling the river of blood flowing through her fingers from the heart's chambers. She could hear yelling and shouting and screeching as he walked in closer in the forest, the cries of men and the cries of battle, throbbing in the forest's throat. The cries and squawks of animals and machines echoed throughout. All that echoed in her head was the feeling of sudden victory, the feeling that the soldiers were too focused on the bloodshed and the war, that they forgot the most important thing to her, and the thing that will allow Sonic's heart, the lanterns in the contours, to light up and be brilliant and flickering and be a white hot flame inside again, the dragonfly's heart, and she knew she was getting that much closer, and that soon, their journey, their journey full of all these perils and trials, was ending. And she could live with Sonic in the Northern Kingdom and live out her happily ever after, with a big white cake and a big white pumpkin carriage and the glass slippers on her small, bloody, bruised feet, and they could kiss and forget this whole adventure, the whole demonic soul that was inside him right now, she could forget it about it and live out the rest of her life in royal peace with her beloved. But she knew it wouldn't be in her hands without a fight. She inserted the gunpowder inside the rifle, pumped it like blood from the heart to veins, and it clicked. If a man was willing to abuse her much like they abused Rouge, so be it. She was willing to make that man die and pay for his sins for what happened to the poor batty bitch. The poor, miserable bitch.

The poor miserable pink quilled whore.

The knife didn't shine in the darkness. There was no sun. No light. They were all inside Satan's body, the belly of the beast. She was sure the hedgehog couldn't see a thing in the dark. While bats were nocturnal and knew everywhere to go and every place by radar and the sounds of their screeches, she could simply grab her and cut her throat and that would be it. That would be the end of Amy, the dirty thieving slut that took her gun and took her dragonfly's heart. That took her husband away from her. Her life. Her sanity. _Dirty__rotten__bitch.__You__took__away__everything.__You__took__away__all__I__was.__You__took__away__me._

But she was worried to initiate her plan into action. The demonic hedgehog, she knew he was watching. And she wasn't sure if he had full demon abilities like the ability to tear through darkness with their eyes and the speed to snap your neck without you even realizing there was something on your back. If she was planning to kill her, she had to wait carefully, be patient, be the patient wise and cunning fox-o-lox that waited until the rabbit fell for the trap, its leg in the snare, then it would be time for it to strike, its fangs jutted open and ready to tear through her flesh. Be patient darling. Everything will come for you all in time. And soon, she would be dead, and the dragonfly's heart, it would be hers. It beating inside her fleshy hands, filled with cinnabar blood and organic nylon, it would be hers and hers alone and she could run the hell out and rescue her husband by pulling yet another three all-nighters with little food and running on only tea. She would be starving, but the taste of her husband after he was alive and reborn again would be the best tasting dish she would ever have in her life.

The sounds of the men grew louder. And gunshots and swords and lances being thrust against shields. There was a war, and Amy, the princess of the Northern Kingdom, was putting her nose in this bloody affair her nose shouldn't be in at all. Her father misses her, and is even sick without her, but it was time to follow the kind prince Sonic's advice, that she had to do the right thing. And the right thing was pushing yourself into the heart of war and making it stop beating, stop bleeding. But she didn't know what she would do to stop a war from this massive of a scale. She barely had anything that could make them listen to her. Other than maybe the dragonfly's heart. Maybe Sonic would help her once she cured him. Then they could tell them if a prince and a princess from two warring nations got along, then they could too, then all would be well. Everything would fall into place. All she needed was the heart, the soul of the forest, and things would be peaceful again.

As the forest grew dimmer, she reached out, and held Sonic's hand. Even if some of the claws pricked her fingers and made them bleed a little, he held hers too, and they trudged on, with her blood dripping and staining his scaly skin.

If hands could hold themselves together despite being this damaged, this warped, imbued with craziness and hatred, then she was confident that the war could stop. Their hands would bleed, and they would hold hands with the other kingdoms. Then maybe to finish off the day, they could gather in a campfire and sing songs and sway their bodies in motion with each other and tell stories and their hearts would glow a little like the dragonfly's too.

It would be perfect.

White light began to pour onto their hungry, tired, and thirst-shaken bodies, to a land of war and blood and rape and honey. There were thousands of men in the center of the forest, with swords and guns and lances and ball and chains and maces. There were thousands of bleeding corpses, the blood spilling out to the sewers of the woods, into the ground and making it a muddy cinnabar red, their eyes pecked out by ravens and their ribs and guts spewed forth, their heads even decapitated. It was a sight that the young Amy never wanted to see, but she was reminded of the kind Prince Sonic's voice and words, to never heed the violence, to be brave, and to do what was right. But as far as she could look, she couldn't see the dragonfly's heart. She couldn't see it or in a marsh where all the dragonflies lived and gathered. Another soldier might as well have picked it off and sold it for a wealthy sum of money. Because Amy's eyes couldn't see it, and she soon thought that this whole adventure, their bruised withered feet and their empty stomachs and their shaken hearts, this journey was for nothing, and she might as well have turned around and went wee wee wee all the way home. There was nothing here. Nothing but disappointment.

Her gun lowered. The fire inside it dimmed. She was broken. She wanted Prince Sonic to be cured, she wanted it more than anything, but the Forest Goddess could give her hope, but she could never give the plant that held so much promise and could make her hopes come true. She gave, and she took away. There was nothing. But death.

Even Rouge was falling in despair. The thing that promised to cure her husband, the thing that could make her insanity and her chaos go away, it wasn't there. And the whole promise, the whole story, it might as well have been a myth. She knew when she would go back home, her husband would be lying on her bed, dead, with the beetles and worms swarming on his face and devouring and crawling through his eye sockets and body like a rotten apple. There was nothing. Inside her now was nothing. The dragonfly's heart was not here. And their hopes, and dreams, passed by them fleetingly.

She could hear more footsteps stomping on the forest's ground, the sound of voices and complaining growing as they stayed there in disbelief, by each passing second. She could hear someone running into the center, choking on his breath, his feet growing sore and his legs about to drop and be fed to the moon howlers. More people were coming to the center of the forest, more adventurers waiting to be disappointed, more victims to the the hungry mouth of war. And as soon as they unveiled themselves to her, Amy couldn't wait any longer and continue to be dejected. She had to pick up her feet, her tired, swelled up, bloody feet, and run.

There were the king's men, seeing the princess and the prince, and with their gaping mouths and eyes they shouted to them as they both ran, "Your Highness, please stay! We want you to bring you back to your father! So he's no longer insane! Please stay! Please!" Many of the men were armed with maces and swords, and without thinking, as if they were blind, they marched towards the war, to the land of the battling sheep, and as they pursued the princess, some were mercilessly attacked simply for having their blood flow to the North. The disgusting Southerners, how dare they attack the North! How dare they attack the men who are trying to save their land and the princess! Some were killed, feeding the men's craving for red wine and bloody Mary's, but some continued to chase her, the other men too distracted by the pink girl and the demonic creature and the tattered and muddied woman to even continue the battle, except to kill the Northerns' very own men.

Then there was Rhyiuk, appearing over yonder. His feet were tired despite his brawn and stamina, his tail twitched and his teeth were silver icicles, and even if he fled from the Northern king's men, he saw the princess, the pink, bloodied, tarred princess, and while Rhyiuk was a very cool-headed man, he dashed towards her, aimed on being a hero, being the creature that while he was a different species, a different Northerner, he rescued the princess, and he was a good creature, a good Easterner, and the North would respect him and he could have his candy shop filled with buttercreams and chocolate beetles and lollipops and the children all over the world would be happy. If he could only catch that damn whore, that damn bitch. Amy could hear the thundering rush of the men and lizard who desired her, needed her to be happy, and even if her legs were tired, she continued to rush towards the glowing center of the trees, the arc of the forest, and the prince held her hand, grass flying from their feet, the wind cradling their heads and rushing and whistling through their ears, their hearts beating faster, their blood rushing forth. The men stopped fighting as they gazed at the spectacle, the chase that was occurring, and their swords, maces, and guns were lowered, and they watched, as if this would be their USO show. Their little entertainment as they fought over this land.

As Amy got closer, her disappointment grew larger and larger, as fire grew bigger when it had more things to eat, more sadness to consume, the wood around it and the curtains and the sad memories humans always carried with them. There was no dragonfly's heart at the center of the forest. There was no golden hearted Sonic underneath the cruel, soulless husk that she was knowing him for. She couldn't heal him, and it was a hopeless cause, as the demonic blood was flowing further inside him, and she knew there was not much more she could do to keep him alive. Someone already had the heart, and took it with him to probably pawn it off in a store, not thinking about the people who suffered to get here. And it pained her to see that she failed on her mission, this adventure was nothing but a waste of time, a waste of effort, a waste of breath. She wanted peace between all the kingdoms. She wanted peace and happiness between her and Sonic. She wanted Rouge to find peace within the death of her husband. But there was no peace. Only war and blood. Only hate and violence. And she wanted to cry again, as she had when she saw all the dead bodies around her. She wanted to show the whole world how much she suffered since she came here. This entire war was her audience. So tears began to stream down her eyes as she ran, the gun _clank__clank__clanking_ against her chest. It was the sound the clock droned on when she knew very well someone's time was up, and someone was going to die.

And she might as well create more war and more blood. She might as well let the fire in her gun flare up and shoot the men and shoot Rhyiuk and let this be over with. There was nothing she could do now. Only death lied in the rest of her journey. It was time to go back to the forest and let the poor creature with no heart live with her and soon die by her hands as she soon had to tear out his heart like a butcher selling animal meat. She couldn't think to herself that she failed, but she knew she had. There was no use denying it.

She whipped around, Sonic's quills growing longer, like long, thick tendrils, his eyes dilated and his sword unsheathed and thinking of slicing the heads off the men and the creature who once tried to kill him simply because he got in the way of the fair, beautiful wench, and she clicked her gun and pointed it towards them, out of breath, and as she looked at Sonic, she was also nearly out of time. Sonic would soon become a beast, and there would be no saving him. Maybe there would be no happily ever after here. Maybe there would be none ever for her.

Rouge stood, staring at the vine that the dragonfly's heart was once dangling from, a plant without its significant other, where all the dragonfly's would gather and dance around it, as they are the ones who ferment the soil to create the plant. Her husband was dying, all alone in the home, and she couldn't save him, whether she killed Amy or not.

Tears were flowing in her eyes. She couldn't see the damn bitch seeing her suffer more than she already had. But she knew that there was no point in going through with her plan now. There was no point in anything. Her husband was probably dead. She killed many people in her madness, and she knew if she came back in the kingdom, she would no longer be queen. She would be shunned, or put and chained in an insane asylum. And she would screech her husband's name everyday, wondering what she could've done differently to keep him alive, keep the fire in his heart still burning. He was dead, the fire in her life, and she knew there was nothing else to live for, to continue to be a queen for. Her family was dead, her husband was dead, and very soon, she would be dead. And she would have no children, and the black widow could not continue her family line, no matter how many people she feasted upon. The black widow would be eaten alive by herself, tormented by her madness, and only herself. She was ready to meet the Forest Goddess, ready to see the black abyss that awaited her when she went to Hell, and she could ask herself to the demons there on why her husband was so cursed, and why she had to live with all this pain. And they would say, "Because the Forest Goddess is a bitch sometimes."

Guns were pointed towards the men, some from the West pointed towards the Easterner. The Easterner was ready to battle the demonic hedgehog whose eyes were large and whose quills were becoming more dense and sharp. And one gun was aimed towards the bat herself, the gun beginning to click. They all knew that they couldn't leave without someone dying here. Amy knew it was either her or them, and if anyone was going to get in the way of her and Sonic, she was willing to shoot them, to let the fire set her gun off and have a bullet go through their brain. Rouge wanted a bullet through hers. The men and Rhyiuk wanted Amy safe, and the demonic hedgehog didn't know what he wanted anymore. Did he wanted to die, or kill everyone in this entire forest? Decisions. Maybe he would kill the wench and get this entire thing over with. As he searched within his heart, he began to hate her. He hated her for making him love her. And he was ready to feast on his self-destruction, the destruction of this entire forest, and he wanted to hate the humans, the witches, who made him this way in the first place. Death was the only way out. For all of them. Suicide or murder, it had to be.

"Get out of here, now. You get out of here and leave me alone. Or one, maybe even a lot of you, are going to be dead as soon as I pull the trigger. I miss my father, but I can't ever return back to the kingdom. Not right now," she choked, her eyes dwelling with tears. The gun came closer to Rhyiuk's heart, and he stopped, and he listened.

"Sonic is sick, and I have to take care of him until he has to be murdered, like a dog. You see that? You think my love is a dog, don't you? But who's really the dogs around here? A bunch of pitbulls fighting and ripping each other to shreds simply because they have to share their food. It's pathetic really, and I wanted to tell you all to stop this at once, to teach you how you can share your food without wanting to bite the other dog's jugular, but I know I can't go on any longer. You don't understand, all of you, of how much I love Sonic. I know the hedgehog he really is inside, a kind soul that's willing to fight to the death for the people he loves, and he always forgives and forgets even the people who have done him wrong, like all of you. I don't know what happened to him, but I'm sure if he was cured, he would forgive the witch who stole his heart. I'm sure he would even forgive all of you for trying to kill him. I can see this true beauty inside of him, and I know that I want to be with him for the rest of my life, and it was my mission to cure him and we could live in the kingdom and the North and South could finally be at peace, but I'm afraid that's not going to happen. But men, I don't want to take my life. I know I have to be there for Sonic, and if I have to tear out his heart and let him die, I'll still remain standing here, remembering him for the man he could've been. Maybe if all of you knew who Sonic really was on the inside, you wouldn't want to kill him. But unfortunately, I have to kill someone here, so he can live. I can't return to my father. Not yet. I want Sonic to live out the rest of his days with me, even if he will become a terrible beast who wants to consume my flesh. I want him to know that…there's always someone there for you, even if Sonic pushed all those people away. I will always be there for him, and that's all that matters to me. Now you either back off and let me mourn over the loss of the dragonfly's heart in peace, or I'm taking someone's life. If you even lay another hand on me, I swear…"

"But princess…this hedgehog is now a beast and I can see him now, not even knowing the sound of your voice," one of the men pleaded, his sword facing away from the Easterner and the demon. "I can see him killing you, and I can't have that happen to you, fair princess. Not on my watch. You must return to your father. He's crazed now. He's forgetting your name. He has a doll named Isabelle who he wishes would be just as great as a daughter as you were. And he's even making that doll like the same things you like, so she could be a lot like your likeness. He misses you so much, and all you want to do is remain with this beast until you're killed, just like Diana? We would have to blame the South for this too! All your death would be is a further ripping from peace, a further distance all these kingdoms would face, so it would be wise for you to kill him now and return to the man who truly loves you, your father. If not, I'm afraid we'll have to take you by force. And we'll have to kill this disgusting Easterner for killing one of our men like the scaled scum he is."

"_No_!" The gun was next to his head. The trigger was ready to send the fire blazing, send the bullet to his brain, and make it splatter all over the men. "You leave him be too! I know that scaled scum. He's actually a good person. He was just merely defending himself from the likes of you. No, no…I'll have to make sure you're all dead, and that's something I just…can't see myself doing. I can't kill. I can't kill anyone." The gun lowered, facing the ground. Her head followed suit. More tears flowed on her face, a few streaming down her cheeks, the dragonfly's heart vine watered. "All of you need to step away. And Rouge…" She faced her, the gun still next to her head, Rouge ready to pull the trigger. But she listened, and her mind was withering away, consumed by the madness. "Please don't end your life. No dear. No. This is not how all this is supposed to end. It's not the end. It's never the end."

The world was blurring around her, the chaos and bloodshed and the threats of killing Sonic and the threats of suicide and the threats of returning her to her father and killing the man she loved, she couldn't stand anymore. She fell to the ground, touching the vine where the heart used to lay, the light from the ceiling of the forest shining on it, seeing the blood from where the heart once lied glisten. She could no longer hear the beating, the thumping that she felt when she walked near to the center of the forest…it was all gone. Her hope. Her future. It suddenly vanished, as quick as the dragonfly itself.

She placed her hands on the vine. She felt it between the palms of her hands, stroking it, reminding herself of all the hopes that were taken away from her from a cruel creature as cruel as Sonic himself, a creature that was given a chance to redeem himself in life by helping others with this miracle fruit. But he just took it away from her and Sonic just to sell it, just to give to his dogs and thought nothing of. Or that was what she thought what happened to it. She couldn't think of anyone using it for any other reason other than to bring someone back from the dead or to cure someone of the curse casted by the hearts and dreams witches. Everything was taken away in a flash, a blur of colors and a blur of voices and gunshots and sword wounds, and she wished she could take this whole adventure back. She loved Sonic, but she wished her heart never saw him and fell in love with him in the first place. Because this was where her heart was stomped on, crushed, stabbed, wounded. If she was never here, her heart wouldn't be like this. And she cried some more, the vine twisting in her hands, and she casted them to her face and sobbed.

And she thought to herself silently, draining out the sounds of the screams and fighting and death from her head.

_I loved you Sonic. I really did love you. But now we're here, and soon, you're going to be dead. I tried everything for you to keep you alive. Honest. I tried my best. But I'm just as distraught as Rouge right now. But I can't be thinking of taking my life when my father is insane and you're still here. I will take care of you until it is that time. Until I will have to rip out your heart. Should I keep your heart with me so I'm always reminded of the man I loved and failed to help? I don't know, because all I knew is that I promised to cure you, I promised to love you, and I broke that promise. And for that, I'm sorry my dear Sonic. I wished this never happened. I wished this whole thing just never happened between us. So I wouldn't be standing here and making you see the huge failure I am. I am a princess, but princesses never get everything in the end. There is no happily ever after in this story. There is no carriage, no white horses, no bottle of champagne and glass slippers. There's only you, dead. And I'm sorry._

As she dug her hands into her face, she suddenly heard something buzz, and something touch the sides of her hair. It flashed like an open flame, silent and waiting for her to take notice. A red dragonfly flit to her hand. It was mottled with black spots, looking like the embers sealed within the sides of coal, looking like a bright fiery cinnabar color, the color that Rouge used to be as she watched Amy touch the dragonfly, bringing it to her finger and observing it. She was too far away in her own mind to know and understand the events happening before her. Her mind was pitch black, nothing inside it, everything nearly dead and obsolete. She only muttered and dropped her gun and stared at the earth, talking about her husband. She thought he was with her, right now.

Its green eyes gazed at her as it sat, the tail shuddering as it crawled on her arm and the wings flickering every once in a while to echo to other dragonflies a language that was common to all of them. Dragonflies spoke in vibrations. And Draconic. But as she watched it vibrate its wings, Amy could understand everything it said to its brothers, through some flash of understanding, a mutual feeling between the both of them. She didn't need to understand Draconic to understand that it said to her: "This isn't over, my young hedgehog. Not yet. Nothing ever ends this way. There is more to come for you, and I will assure you that a great battle, a great test of strength, will unveil itself before you. Be prepared, princess. Nothing ever ends this way. There is always more to come."

She touched the dragonfly, stroked it with her fingers, and she could feel the beating of its heart within it, the beating of the life inside the forest, the sound of hope, the sound of promise. Its gemlike eyes gazed into her own, and without a moment's notice, it flew off quickly with the beating of its wings, into the world of the forest where light never existed. Where it was never found, never discovered.

The dragonfly stopped in the middle of the darkness, floating in the wide black void, and Amy watched it carefully, her eyes stung with the sight of brilliance, a flash of flaming eyes, a flash of white, glistening teeth. She could see the jowls of this beast dribble with embers and flames, and the beast crudely smiled, staring out into the world with disdain and malice. The creature's claws shined in the silvers of light, as it was birthed from the darkness into the center of the forest, where it stretched its wings, seemingly made of golden twine and honey and were as long as the entire battlefield, were as long as the sky could reach. Amy knew just then, that this beast, this monster that wanted to make the world burn down and kill her and the other soldiers simply for being alive in the same world as it, this creature was a dragon, and not the typical creatures they called dragons. It was an actual, real swamp dragon, with wings and golden scales and a spiked tail that had the skull of another beast long devoured, and horns that she was reminded of the pictures her father showed her of the demons in Hell, and how if she didn't do the right thing, she would be sent to it, where she would be licked by flames. And she knew if she didn't do the right thing just now, right at this very moment, she was going to be sent to that world. The world where this dragon was born in. And it said to her within his head, through mutual understanding: _I__will__make__you__proud,__daddy.__I__will__make__you__proud.__I__will__kill__all__these__disgusting__creatures__and__make__this__world__your__home__again.__I__will__make__sure__that__will__happen__daddy.__I__will._

There was a booming voice out of that darkness as the dragon was revealed in the battlefield, a wicked laugh and a flash of gnarled white shining teeth, as the egg-shaped human the Beatles would've surely talked about in "I Am the Walrus" appeared out of the darkness and into the sunlight that the sun was trying so desperately to reach and touch the forest floor from this evil man who wanted all of its creatures to suffer simply because they were alive and stupid, and the man laughed and laughed some more as he announced to the creatures of the beast, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, you're in for a special treat! The Forest Goddess told me to not use the DNA of its dragonflies, but rules were meant to be broken, isn't that right, miss? Here I have created the ultimate monster, the most wicked of all my machines and chimeras, and I am here to tell you all that you will soon be packing up to go to Hell, where they'll show HBO all night long. That's right, you get to see a TV for yourself. That's right, you'll see how great the human's world is, and you'll see how pathetic yours is. As I understand, two of you are a prince and princess, but it's time to break this kingdom apart and bring on the revolution! The revolution of a man who became god!"

The dragon gazed upon the armies that were watching it in pure bewitchment and honor, watching it as it made no sudden movement for a while, as the man only laughed and laughed and snickered and hooted and hollered, when suddenly, it belched a bright rivet of orange and golden flames that dribbled from its mouth, the dragon watching with cautious eyes of all the men he was killing, as he reveled in the destruction of the people his father hated. The men who threatened Amy to go back to the kingdom caught fire and panicked, as the flames crawled over their bodies and made their armor black as a volcanic rock, their faces scorched and their eyes gazing on Amy, Sonic, Rouge, and Rhyiuk as they escaped from the line of fire, the men burning to death until their bodies were nothing but charred carcasses, dead. Amy ran from it before the men could react, Sonic following and Rouge dropping her gun and catching up with them, it now being eaten by the small golden beast created from his mouth, completely charred black and destroyed. She watched it as the flames kindled over what would've been her last few moments of life, wondering why the world was on fire, wondering where her husband would be in all of this. Her voice was choked, the smoke coming from the other dragons stinging in her nose and throat, and she thought to herself as they danced and consumed more of the forest, more of the grasses and plants and leaves who used to stretch so high out to the sky, she wondered how quick it would take for her to burn, for her body to be recognized as it was burnt black into organic tar.

Her shoulder was touched by a thick, scaly hand, and she recognized it as the Easterner. While she was a little biased against the Easterners (as most Westerners were), she stopped thinking. She stopped wondering about suicide and fire. Her mouth gargled, an unfamiliar sound that Rhyiuk couldn't recognize was actually the words, "I love you, Knuckles Hynkle." And her hand touched his, and they closed. Rhyiuk wouldn't ask any questions. He thought this moment, where the East and West could finally get along and recognize that they were both creatures with thoughts and emotions and aspirations and dreams, and they were actually getting along. Maybe this would be a story he could tell to his son that despite these creatures' differences he could be accepted into the West as one of their own after all. That was, if he could survive this apocalypse. But if two kingdoms were brought together despite hundreds of years of war, then maybe anything was possible.

"I love you too," he said.

They sat, the flames watching over them, and they talked, even if her mind was as black as the charred bodies of the soldiers who were dying around them. Despite the war and this great battle, they were at peace, and he even offered if she wanted some tea before this great and vast world they were a part of ended. And she obliged.

The dragon stomped with its large feet and shook the Earth with its tail like thunder, and it killed the many men who were still alive in the battlefield, some men who were in the way of its feet and some were slammed hard with its tail, their backs and bones broken. Amy was a little ways away from the beast, and she was silent, sullen, as she watched the dragon eating the flesh of the dead. She thought of how peculiar these last moments were, the very last moments she knew she would still be alive. There was a dragon here, a real, breathing dragon, not like the ones in the swamp that the humans called _alligators_, ones that simply sat in the stagnant water and waited for their prey to get close before they chomped them down with their jagged white sharp jaws. This was a dragon that her father told her in fairy tales, one that princesses were often held captive by. She remembered in these stories that there was always a knight in shining armor to save the princess from this scaly fire-breathing beast, and while the endeavor wasn't easy, often the princess was saved and the knight became a prince, and of course, they lived their happily ever after. The carriage and the slippers and the ballroom dance, all of it. But never in these stories was ever the princess chosen to defeat the dragon herself. Of course, Sonic would tell her that princesses were weak and couldn't and shouldn't fight dragons because women were wenches and they couldn't fight. But she thought despite Sonic's protests (if he still had a mind of his own as the demon body took over), she thought maybe this would be a battle she would have to take in her own hands, to show the men of the forest that she was strong and she could fight anything that got in her way. Inside the skull that was on the dragon's tail was a gleaming red object, and she could hear it beating and giving life to both the forest and the beast. But within each heartbeat she heard was hope. Promise. The dragonfly's heart was actually here, on the tail of the dragon, and if she was a good fighter, she could take it from it and cure Sonic of the curse and this adventure would have a happy ending after all. She knew she couldn't give up on this journey. There was a dream and a promise. And it was inside a skull of what looked like a swamp dragon, inside death.

Was that who originally got the heart? The human? Did he decide that this would power the dragon, to entice the warriors to fight it so they could get an early trip to their grave, with the promise of immortality and their illness cured? She knew. She knew because this human wasn't stupid. In fact, he was a genius to create a monster as strong and powerful as this. But he was also very mad. He was very mad with the world and wanted it to drown in flames and the sounds of his laughter. And he managed to make a colossal monster that the Forest Goddess could fear. The man was a very smart and a very clever egg, and she wasn't sure if she was going to survive fighting it with the others. The only thing she had was her gun, but she knew she couldn't kill it with these small bullets. The only ones she knew could possibly slay it were Sonic and Rhyiuk, with both their swords. But Sonic, he was becoming a creature he no longer knew. For as long as he has been with her, she didn't even call her a wench or anyone else a single insult, and was in fact completely quiet. And she knew if Sonic was quiet, the damn chatterbox, then this wasn't a good thing at all. She knew that time was growing smaller for the both of them, and that already in this night, many people died. But she knew that as the sun was growing smaller inside the holes of the trees, running away from the large battle, that one of them, either the prince of the South, his mind completely gone and the demon feasting on it, or the princess of the North, with her father insane and distraught, were going to die.

Sonic's eyes, slit and dilated and red and his claws so sharp and his scales so arched and rough like crystallized armor and his tail so long, he no longer looked like the hedgehog he used to be, Forest Goddess bless his soul, the cruel and black hearted hedgehog was nowhere in sight and now there was a fangled monster that smelled of blood and shit. His brain was irrational, he no longer knew who anyone was or even if this dragon was his enemy, but all he knew was that his heart, his solid metal, blackened, cold, icy, blue-gray heart, it pumped so much blood into his body, and it made him think of the one who mattered to him all this time. When he was on this journey, when he was facing death in the face and a disgusting human and a disgusting Easterner who once almost spilled his life, he said the only word that made sense to him anymore, the only word his mouth could utter and make sense of midst all this chaos.

"Amy Rose."

She looked back, her pulse thundering and her head moist with sweat, but keeping her heart contained inside her as the dragon roared and the beast looked upon his brother's eyes and said he wanted him dead. And he said the word again, the word that mattered to him than all the words ever conceived by humans and animals alike.

"Amy Rose."

His love for her. It made him insane. She was now the only thing he thirsted and hungered for, the beautiful gorgeous magnificent wench, and he wished she could come with her when he was dead. But yet Amy was surprised that he was still here by her, not hurting her or even slicing a single hair off her body. He didn't attack Rhyiuk either, the Easterner he hated and wanted to kill, but knew somehow inside his blood-wrought and shattered brain that this human who was born from darkness was the enemy of the forest, and for creating this creature that the Forest Goddess never intended, he had to die.

He leapt onto the dragon, his tail clutching deep into its jaw, his claws scratching only little through its scales, its golden armor, and it roared vehemently and with a vigorous shake of its head it caused the demonic Sonic to fall from him. But he was unaffected by it, his health and blood lust still intact, growling and the scent of smoke, blood, and shit still in his nostrils, which only made him angrier, even more destructive. And he said once more, but with immense anger, immense hatred at this scaly Frankenstein:

"Amy Rose!"

She heard him screaming her name continuously as she raised her gun, clicking, and she pulled the trigger, the bullet rocketing towards the dragon. But it bounced off its hide, doing nothing, not leaving a mark. The guns were too small for this dragon. The guns were too weak. She wanted so much to slay it and help Sonic fight, as he repeated her name, over and over. He swiped at the dragon's body with his sword, but even the sword that his father gave him that he promised would make his strongest enemies fall, it did nothing, and the dragon just grew even more murderous. But still he shouted her name, but still he continued to fight.

"Amy Rose!"

Rhyiuk was ready to fight, with his muscled arms and his large claymore, but as he prepared himself to charge at the dragon, the pink hedgehog threw down her gun, knowing that her weapon was useless, but still brimmed with determination to kill the beast herself, she walked up to Rhyiuk and tried to lift his sword, a sword that he knew that only the most strongest of Easterners could lift. Amy wasn't an Easterner, or very strong, but she wanted to be remembered as the princess who summoned all her courage and killed a dragon that a human created, that a vengeful god created. Rhyiuk was about to protest for her to stay behind and let him fight, but he hesitated. She knew he would simply be ignored. For as long as he knew Amy Rose, she was a woman who would never give up, who wanted to do things despite people telling her she couldn't, and he watched her as she dragged his sword, creating a line of dirt along the way like a garden hoe. And he said nothing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in case you weren't listening to me the first time, you apparently haven't seen how powerful this actual swamp dragon is!" the large, egg-shaped man shouted, with glee at the prospect of a mass genocide. "It is made with the DNA of the great dragonflies in this swamp, the intelligence from yours truly, and with the blood and vitality from the dragonfly's heart. Here we are, wiping out all these disgusting creatures, and this lizard and this weak pink little hedgehog want to fight it? So be it, but you'll be dead before you know it, so count your blessings as you gaze into this beast's eyes and say, 'Forest Goddess, can you send me to Hell where I belong?'"

The only response the egg-shaped man got.

Was "Amy Rose!"

Sonic tried to scar the dragon with his sword still, trying to find the weak spot within its scales, but there wasn't a white streak or even a single mark of the body that shone like the sun. Sonic's rage only grew, as the sword his father gave him was as useless as Amy's gun. The dragon roared, and with a great gush of hot burning gold and orange, there was yet another streak of fire across the forest floor, devouring the center of the forest, the smoke billowing out to the sky and to the sun that coughed out more heat and more flames, the smell drafting through Amy's nostrils. Her eyes stung and her lungs choked as if the smoke was gripping her neck with a wispy black hand, but she continued, pulling the claymore with her, scarring the earth with its sharp point.

"Give up you two!" the man yelled, coughing somewhat on the gray tendrils. "This dragon is unbeatable! You better go back to your castle in Hell you two, because if the blue one can't even put a dent on its scales then you're all done for! The Forest Goddess is not showing up and I'm the winner of this war! What is it like to have a new god, huh? A new god to destroy this forest and making it a haven for humans like me to walk and shit upon? The white man wins again, and you creatures can't do a damn thing about it! Give up you worthless rodents!"

Rhyiuk felt helpless as he watched the two hedgehogs struggle like rats drowning in a river, Rose still dragging the claymore like a donkey carrying the white man's heavy supplies, and Sonic attempting to stab it in its claws and body, but his sword didn't even make a dent. The dragon croaked more flames and swung his tail, slamming his body hard on the Earth, the blue demon scratching it to escape, but nothing was making it move. And as the tail was digging into him harder, trying to crush his skull and crush his heart, Sonic could only shout one thing.

And that was "Amy Rose!"

He thought he needed to do something, as Rouge sat quietly, staring at her hands aimlessly and unblinking, the smoke from the flames not even bothering her. He was amazed that she was still alive as she has done nothing but sit, her eyes wandering and vacantly gaping at the sky or at the dragonflies who swarmed over her, telling her that Knuckles was going to die if she didn't move and kill the dragon, but she mumbled "Knuckles is here…Knuckie…is here…".

Maybe the only thing he could really do, was escape. Just run from the forest and hope for the best, because he thought there was nothing more he could do for this world. He knew there would be no convincing the princess on giving him back his sword, her determination too thick. Even if she stayed behind like a good little princess, he thought if Sonic could do nothing to it, then he couldn't kill it either. The human doctor made his Frankenstein invincible. He surmised that the forest was coming to an end, and it was nice knowing it while it lasted, while he was in the piece of shit kingdom known as the East. The least he could do was bring the bat back to the East with him, as it seemed like she was too dysfunctional to care for herself. And he wanted to see his son before he died, and maybe he could do one last kind act for this bat before they were set to flames and burnt completely to black.

The world was ending now, and yet he didn't feel panicked. Or stressed at all really. He was actually calm. Maybe it was a nihilistic thought, but he didn't had too much faith in this world. He especially didn't had faith in his kingdom. The only Easterner he ever liked and respected was his son. But yet he had to return before they were all wiped out, to his son, and say that everything was going to be okay and he could sing him one last lullaby, because soon, they were going to be dead. But he could say that it was true that everything would turn out okay in the end. So it went. Sayonara, see you in Hell. Because I heard it was quite a nice kingdom, with those human TVs and their beds were actually quite comfortable too. Such a relaxing place, and it always had that nice smell of brimstone.

The bat mumbled something. He wasn't sure what she said, but it all sounded like gibberish. He gestured him to follow her, taking her hand, and she obeyed with no questions asked, even if she knew that the West and East were enemies. He would leave this battle to the hedgehogs, and if they failed, then everyone else in this whole damn world was going to fail too. What was the damn point in fighting a battle no one could face, he thought. And the bat looked at his slit eyes and said, "Knuckles? Is that you? What are you doing alive? I thought you were dead!"

"I am dead," he said. "As dead as we're all going to be, very soon. Come with me, and we can have a nice cup of tea and discuss the things we did in life and what we are most proud of. Maybe the Forest Goddess will bless us. Maybe she'll send us to her realm. But I doubt it. Come with me, bat. We'll have the time of our lives."

The fire continued to blaze and stricken the forest with black and smoke, but they managed to find a safe exit, and they walked together, hand in hand, leaving the battle to the hedgehogs. If Amy couldn't win, no one else could. And soon as the flames wavered and made their bodies distort in the distant with their sizzling heat, they disappeared.

Amy heaved the claymore, sweat pouring through her body, her arms and feet aching. She moved faster as she saw the dragon swinging its tail at Sonic, his dense scales protecting him from having his fragile hedgehog bones broken. He was lucky that he was a demon this time, because if he wasn't, he would've surely been dead.

He rolled out of the way, throwing his sword to the ground. It stabbed the earth, and he left it lying. It was useless now in this battle. The only thing he could really rely on were his demonic abilities, his claws and his sharp vision and his agility. He tried to set a plan in his irrational mind, a way to kill the beast and drink its blood (the red wine, the Bloody Mary). But he noticed Amy dragging the lizard's weapon, her eyes watering from the smoke and from the sheer weight of it. Even in his irrational mind he knew that the hedgehog would be too slow to kill the dragon, too weak to even lift the sword. He could sense that even the wench knew how pathetic she looked in slaying the beast, carrying a weapon that even she couldn't raise above her head. The dragon didn't even take any notice in her, as it ate the remains of the other fallen soldiers, the men who were foolish enough to stop and stare at the man and his creation, and be confused by his claims of being a god.

But yet in his heart, even if this man was killing them, even if this man didn't care at all of how much pain these soldiers were in, he couldn't find himself insulting humans and calling them the "scum of the earth", or any other insult he always said about them within seconds in his head. Only two words could be formed with his mouth. Only two words, a name, the only thing he cared about now, the only words he wanted to say when he could feel himself systematically dying inside his body, his organs rotting and his brain becoming a gray mash of the same scum you would find in their swamps and the same this human was.

"Amy Rose!"

The dragon eyed the pink hedgehog, knowing now that this was what the lizard hedgehog was referring to, in his agony and in his rage. She still dragged the claymore, her body bursting at the seams as she tried to lift it, and the dragon grinned and snickered. And so did the egg-shaped walrus man, as more men were dying by the second, and some of the few survivors were only these weak and pathetic hedgehogs who served no threat to it whatsoever. He found all of this to be very amusing, his mass genocide of the animals in the forest, and how the Forest Goddess was doing nothing to save them, his rites of passage to becoming a god becoming clear to her.

"You think you can win, you two? Do you see how many men have died here? Do you see the flames, the broken and bloody and burnt bodies, the destruction of the forest around you? The Forest Goddess chose me to have this lovely war with her, and I'm seeing myself as the victor! You're going to regret ever saying humans are deplorable creatures, because we will eat you like delicacies in an art gallery and we will use your trees as toilet paper. There's nothing you can do to save your grand old forest, so you better pray to me to spare your lives! Too bad you're not humans or you were ever my friends, otherwise I think I would actually consider it."

"Amy Rose…"

Sonic's voice was becoming weaker. She could see the weariness taking over his body. He was shaken and bruised, his eyes dull and his tail wavering and wilting. She could feel his heartbeat wavering too, like the faint light coming from the sun that wasn't veiled by the smoke. _Thump__thump__…__thump__thump__…__thump__thump__…_

It was clear to Amy. Sonic was no longer a very powerful demon. His strength was waning. His cruelty and rage was washing over him. She could even see some of his scales becoming softer and his eyes taking a greenish tint. The demon was leaving his body, but he was slowly dying. His head drooped, his eyelids closing. The dragon didn't even bother trying to smash and break him anymore, realizing that he would no longer be a challenge, only a waste of time and breath. The egg man said he was going to die soon anyways, so leave him rotting for the crows to eat him. His claws were retreating back to his body, and he gave out a sad little sigh, as he begin to sit, flames flickering near him, unaware that the forest was burning and would soon be dying. He was completely unaware that the world was ending. Even the men's cries and his shuddering heart didn't mattered to him right now. And battling this dragon didn't even matter to Amy as she saw how weak he was becoming. She knew he was dying. Broken. Shattered.

Her heart was aching to him. She couldn't see him like this. She couldn't see him suffering, either from the wounds inflicted by the dragon, or from the demonic blood flowing through his veins. She dropped the claymore and ran towards them, the dragon no longer caring for either of them _(Waste__of__time,__waste__of__space,__waste__of__breath,__I__would__rather__kill__all__these__soldiers__for__being__such__pitiful__pigs.)_. The pain of seeing so many people die, seeing her love die, seeing herself dying slowly as the flames spread and ate more of the forest and the smoke forced its way down her throat, she couldn't find herself being the pathetic princess who wanted to slay the dragon by herself but denied that she couldn't do it herself. Against something so impenetrable, something that the human made so perfect completely in his image, like the so-called god he referred himself to be. And she held Sonic and tenderly grabbed his hands, coughing and choking, as Sonic's eyes wearily casted down to the ground. She felt so helpless. There was nothing she could do now, and she knew that the world was slowly degenerating to a flaming ball that the human thought would be his own perfect world, where everyone was dead but him. She couldn't help him like last time when he was close to death. The only thing she could do was stop and stare, watching as he would slowly transform into bones.

"Sonic…" The smoke and his soon to be death was making it hard for her to speak, her words merely inaudible. But Sonic still had some of his demonic senses. He could hear her faint whispers perfectly. Even if he was nearly dead, even if he still had some of that cold, black heart within him, he smiled, and touched her face, wiping away the tears.

"You tried your best, Amy. And sometimes that's all we can ask for." His words weren't strong enough to convince her as she heard more men's dying screams. "But I can tell you that this isn't over, my sweet princess. Worlds cannot die so easily. It takes millions of years to form them, and it takes millions of years to destroy them. I'm sure this doctor isn't going to win. Not by a long shot." He winced as the smoke became stronger, the insanity grappling his brain. He tried to keep himself above the surface, to talk to Amy one last time before he went completely under, into the depths of the ocean of madness.

"I only have one request before I go, Amy. I have a request before I become a full demon and you must tear out my heart. And that's making it shine again. I want you to sing. I want you to sing like you did when I was sick, I want you to sing to soothe my sick heart, I want you to sing and tell the whole world that there is still hope, and the whole world will stand still to listen to your message, and they will know that one day the birds will sing like you again and the forest will become alive under the Forest Goddess' touch. I want you to sing one last time. For me. For the whole world to hear. Can you do that for me? Please?"

Tears were hot in her eyes. She held his hand, touching her face, feeling his warmth and feeling the aura of his smile and his kindness. She didn't want to see him go away. She didn't want to kill him. She knew that she made the right choice in protecting him. She loved him.

"Alright, I'll sing for you. I'll sing louder than these men's screams. I'll sing louder than the evil god's voice. I'll sing louder than the heartbeat of your golden heart. I will sing loud enough for the Forest Goddess to hear. I promised you that you will be cured and happy, but if my voice is the last thing you want to hear before you're gone, I will give that to you, and my love. I'm sorry for this to happen Sonic. I realize that I'm too weak to save this world. I tried to follow your advice, but I just don't think I can do it. I should've married that man and stayed with my father, but if I did, I would've never met you. I would've never got to meet a more beautiful person than you, and I'm so sorry that I never got to truly know that wonderful man." Her hand shook rapidly as she reached over to his head and stroked him, feeling how soft his fur used to be, how his eyes used to shine, before he became the wicked monster she always knew him as. She saw how beautiful he truly was, and it was when he was about to be killed by her.

She tried to gather the remaining air as the smoke ran through the sky, and mustering all the strength in her voice, wiping her tears and sadness away, she held Sonic's head as she could feel him slowly turning back into a beast. And she sang for him, his one last song before the true self inside his shell withered away.

_I saw the fires in the Goddess' eyes_

_And she said_

_I want the whole world to die_

_She took her great spindly, celestial arms_

_And cracked the Earth with her great strength so far_

_The planet was split in two halves, two half moons in the sky_

_The world is split, we were apart_

_And I cried for you, I said to myself it couldn't be true_

_But the Goddess says, we aren't separated as long as we listen to our hearts_

_Thump thump thump_

_But all I could hear_

_Are the cries of agony_

_At me being gone_

_And I can hear my heart_

_Break into two halves, two half moons in my chest_

_I have practiced when the sun came to my half_

_To make the biggest jump in the world_

_To cross the large chasm with a single leap_

_I will search out for the man I love_

_I don't care if I die attempting this, my love_

_My soul is too hungry for you, it needs to feast_

_My world ended_

_The hues of it turned black_

_When the Goddess said you will never come back_

_And I watched the sun drift away_

_Back, to your half_

He looked in her eyes, and he said, "Beautiful my darling. Beautiful."

Her body shook as much as her hands, despite how the fires around her that were becoming nearer were making her sweat, and she clutched his body, feeling how wet his eyes were, as she could tell he was crying a little too, at reaching so far and only coming to death.

"Nothing is over Amy. Even when I turn into a beast you can still hear me inside your heart. You're one of the few people I've ever known who has a heart of gold that can sing for all of the world my darling princess, and you still have time to prevent its destruction. I have one last request before I'm completely gone…you still have time to reach for the dragonfly's heart on the end of the dragon's tail. You still have time to prevent all of this from happening. Ignore fighting the dragon for now Amy. Summon up your courage to get the fruit, and do the right thing. This is all you need to do, and I'm sure in my heart that you can do it. Be quick! You don't have much time left over. Leave me here and find it! The dragonflies have said to me that they will protect my body before I become a full demon, but only for a short time. So go! Go now! I leave all my trust to you! Go!"

Amy was about to leave when he held her head close to her, nuzzling it, and he pulled her in for a kiss.

Even if she was fighting against time, she wanted the kiss to last forever, feeling the warmth of his kindness through his lips, to linger over these last few seconds he will be himself, but she knew she had to leave, and their kiss was broken.

She raced towards the dragon's tail, Sonic's hands empty, his eyes closing. His fur was becoming thicker, darker, and harder when she left, and his pupils became slits and a shade of autumn orange. He was slowly going under, drowning into that ocean, and he begged the Forest Goddess to give her a chance. For her to do the right thing.

She didn't care how much her feet were in pain. She didn't care how torn her dress was, how it smelled like burnt things and the insides of a swamp dragon, how her shoes were torn, how her hair was becoming long and was flowing in the wind. The dragon turned back, its reptilian eyes and its white jagged smile coming back to her, but her mission wasn't to kill the beast, as she knew now it would be useless to attack it with both of Rhyiuk's and Sonic's sword and her knife. She had to get the thing she was originally here for, the dragonfly's heart, and she was going to cure Sonic of his disease. She promised him. And by Goddess, she was going to come out of this shithole alive and with her future husband. Even if the whole world was going to be destroyed by this damned thing. They would get married right when the last second of the world had went by, falling apart in this cataclysm. She would hold onto her promise, and if she was killed by either fire or the dragon, she would be proud of herself before she died. She would be so damned pleased with herself. She _promised__him._And his wish was going to come true, dragon or not.

The swamp dragon's skeleton laid on the ground, its mouth about to devour the heart inside it ravenously, if for the fact it wasn't dead. The dragon cried into the sky, it turned black and orange by the fires in the forest, and with a flash of slit eyes and silver teeth it streamed fire from its mouth. The fire's fingers reached forth and touched more objects, making them black and white. Amy ran from its onslaught, then from the corners of her eyes she found a shield from a dead soldier, one that has already fallen in battle, and she lifted the shield, the shield turned red and glowed, her hands and arms becoming hot as the dragon's flames were deflected away. It became scorching to touch, and she flinched and dropped it, but she would rather have her fingers burnt than her entire body.

As soon as the flames dissolved away from the pink hedgehog, the dragon grinned again, its snide, white sharp teeth uncovered from its golden lips, and it lifted one of its clawed feet, ready to smash her until she was dead and red. She dropped the shield and picked up her feet, still sore and weary (Reminding herself of the threat Rhyiuk said of moon howlers eating her fallen limbs in her mind), picking up speed even if the smoke was running into her lungs, and she rolled away, the sound of the large foot stomping on the ground popping into her ears. The ground shook, and the dragon swayed its tail, growling deeply, its eyes glimmering under the dark smoky clouds. As the smell of sulfur and burnt trees still stung in her nose and throat, she discovered she was near Sonic's sword, the sword that even the cruel heartless Sonic prized, but soon found that it was useless against the beast. As the smoke gathered in her breath, the sounds of the human yelling were gathering in her ears, the words "resistance is useless!" echoing inside her mind.

But resisting was the only thing she knew she could do. She resisted giving up on Sonic. She resisted her father. She resisted the men taking her back to him. Resisting was all she's been doing in her life. And she was going to die resisting.

The dragon roared, feeling the spittle of saliva collecting in her hair and face, but still faced it, unafraid, as it lunged towards her. The beast's shining teeth looked as sharp and as fearful as the human's hypodermic needles, ready to inject into her death and defeat. She could see its tongue twitching for those few seconds, and she quickly held his sword, still unafraid, aiming to maim it like Sonic has done with the first monster they faced. More seconds passed, and she had a better idea, something to distract the dragon while she would grab the dragonfly's heart from its tail.

She swung the sword like a lance, seeing the blink of silver flying into the air before it stabbed into the roof of its mouth, its jaws stuck. Its mouth bled, the dragon roaring in pain, the gums and teeth reddened with bloodstains. Its genius mind couldn't even decide to break it down or pry it out of its mouth with its claws, but if it broke it down with its great large white sharp teeth, it would slice through its face. It scratched itself, clawing its mouth in trying to get the small sword away from it, so concentrated on its wound that Amy was so surprised she inflicted herself (especially that the rest of the kingdom's armies and even Sonic himself couldn't do.)

It was now time for her to find the dragonfly's heart, nestled inside the skeleton head at the end of its tail. It shined in the last remaining light of the sun, still attempting to reach out to the forest to bathe it from the smoke and fire. The tail thrashed violently as the dragon roared in agony, Amy knowing if she couldn't take the dragonfly's heart in these last few minutes she had, then the last remaining light inside Sonic, like the sun, would be whisked away. She could see him being overtaken by dragonflies from the corners of her eyes, his body clothed by so many shining gemlike colors, their wings vibrating to create a type of magical force field she knew that some dragonflies had, albeit their magic was weak and nothing noteworthy, but it was enough to protect him from the fire and smoke that were chewing the forest alive.

_I leave all my trust to you. Go!_

She looked at Sonic's body, it completely like it used to be, covered by the dragonflies. If only she could kiss him again. If only he would be awake and alive for this moment.

And she went. Her feet were bloody and callused, and they made her flinch every time she took a step in them, but she ran, and as soon as the dragon's tail swept the ground, she leapt and held on, her eyes closed and sensing the wind in her hair and the smell of blood coming from the dragon's mouth and the damn smoke she wished would be gone. She latched, knowing now what it was like to be a parasite of an animal about thousands of times larger than herself. The man continued to scream, telling her that everything was hopeless and he wished she was dead and burning in Hell, hearing the dragon crying, and inside her heart she could feel Sonic's waning heartbeat, barely pumping any blood into his brain and into his system, barely pumping any love and any life into Amy's. She thought she was about to sob, feeling that Sonic was close to death, close to drowning from his monstrous self, and she climbed the dragon's tail, wanting to feel the dragonfly's heart in her hand, ready to feel Sonic's blood running inside him again.

_Thump…thump…_

The dragon's tail crashed hard into the Earth, but she still couldn't let go. Not for one second. Not for even one gasp of breath, the only last gasps of oxygen she could breathe in this fire.

_Thump…thump…_

She crawled in closer. Even through all the fire, she could smell the dragonfly's heart, she could feel the dragonfly's call in her ears, becoming louder than the human's cries and screams of hatred. _Just__a__little__more__…__I__can__touch__it__…__I__can__feel__it!_

_Thump…thump thump…_

_Just…a little more…it's coming to me now. Come to me, and let me heal him! Come to me!_

_Thump thump thump thump thump…_

She could feel the bones and ridges of the skeleton. She inched closer, and she could feel the heart beating inside the swamp dragon's mouth, still alive, still fresh with the golden dragon's blood.

_Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump!_

She thrust her hand inside it, feeling the smooth, velvety skin of the fruit. It was warm, and she could feel it beating in her hands, and she could even see it glow as she plucked it from its tail, and even when it was rooted from it it still beat so loudly.

And she fell from the dragon's tail, her body feeling the hard ground, crashing deep within her bones, but she was still in one piece, and the heart was still in her hands, intact.

She gazed back to the dragon. It now looked fragile and weak without the dragonfly's heart on its tail right at the moment she plucked it, its scales pruning, its teeth becoming soft, its eyes pale and no longer sharp and menacing. The dragon's wings it never got to take flight on drooped, it covering itself like a blanket, shielding itself from the last remaining light like a child hiding himself from monsters. Its claws became small, there were no longer horns, the skull of the swamp dragon falling from its body, and the dragon uttered a weak, nearly inaudible whimper as it dropped into the earth, just as hard as Amy did when she grabbed its only life force, and it sunk into the earth, like water absorbed by a plant, seeping into the great earth, becoming food to the trees and the entire forest. The dragon was dead, and it died with only a whimper and not with a sword in its chest or any other way Amy knew the dragons died in the fairy tales with the damsels in distress and the knights in shining armor. It dissolved into the earth, leaving only the skeleton of a regular swamp dragon, the sun's fingers taking hold of it.

But even if she killed this creature by herself, even if she now had the dragonfly's heart, even if she knew Sonic would now be safe, she couldn't celebrate and smile and laugh and be proud of herself.

She heard a click, and it was the sound of a gun being placed behind her head.

And the egg-shaped man said, "Don't move, you disgusting animal, or I'll pull the trigger and you'll be sent to Hell where you damn well belong."


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: I'm very sorry it took a while to get this chapter done. I was planning on releasing it before October ended, but unfortunately, I suffered through a very serious depressive episode from my bipolar. It took several days, but I think I'm a lot better now, and I will continue to write this story until it's finished. The epilogue might come out as soon as tomorrow.**

**11/2/11: Chapter has been edited.**

The pistol clicked, and she could feel the cold metal pressing against her neck, the cold nose of the gun. He just needed to pull the trigger, and it would be the end of her journey. And that would be that. No happy endings. No marriage. No bringing together the North and the South. Just simply death. Just burning in Hell, like the egg-shaped man said. She raised her hands up high, capturing the sun in her fingers, that tried to peek through all the madness and smoke. The glow didn't bother her. Just the cold metal that was rubbing her neck, the finger that was ready to pull the trigger.

"I've heard a little bit about you. While I was catching monsters to kill all of you, I learned that you might be Princess Rose of the Northern Kingdom, is that correct? Answer me, and maybe I'll give you a few more seconds of your life."

She looked at Sonic, and she was silent. The dragonflies could do little to help him. His breathing was slower, not enough air to rush into his heart and lungs. And they soon scattered away, into the dark of the forest. And she was beginning to think that all was lost, all was just as dark as the rest of the woods.

His body was scaly. His demonic tail was back. His claws were long wide silver knives again. He was dying. He was giving in into the beast that was prisoned inside of him. But yet as he laid there, as broken as a shattered porcelain doll, she still loved him. And she had the dragonfly's heart in her possession. She was ready to make it out of this. She would heal her love. Anything for him.

The only plan she had in her head was to stall the doctor. And maybe the demon would awaken and kill him first. And before he would kill her, she could give him the dragonfly's heart, and all will be well. Marriage. White carriage. Honeymoon. Bringing together the North and South. The works. She was determined to make it work. She could still feel his heartbeat inside of him, the steady, but weak _thump__thump__thump_, the hammering in his chest that was ready to be torn and burst, and she wished she could just stop and listen to his heartbeat one last time until this man had fired a bullet in her brain. So was life. So was death. She was ready to see the Forest Goddess. Or go to Hell, if that was where she belonged.

"Yes," she answered. "My name is Amy Rose, and I'm the princess of the Northern Kingdom. So good of you to do research while you were trying to kill us all, huh?"

The doctor laughed, the cold metal still pressed to her neck, feeling his hot rancid breath in her nose, a welcome visitor from all of the smoke.

"I got my reasons to know more about these kingdoms. And they're all the more pitiful the more I learn about them. The North, with its blindness to reason. The South, with a son who's slowly becoming a demon. The West, with its poverty and their insane queen. And the East is the worst. With their hunger and disease and patriotism. Pride is a dangerous thing, Rose. I may be full of pride, and when you're dead in Hell, I can teach you to never be full of yourself, because it will lead to death and anguish. You understand that, Rose? You understand all the pain inside me? Maybe before I kill you we can exchange secrets. Get to know each other. You're the only one I'm slightly interested in. I would like to know a little of your pain before I put a hole in your head."

There was something more to him. She knew. The man was sparing her life to get to know the delicious details of hers. There was something in his heart that made it bleed a little, a little shard that made it see all the ugliness in the world. Maybe this man wasn't like normal men. Most men left the forest alone and were too attentive to their own devices. This man was obsessed with this forest's destruction. He craved it. He wanted so much to have the other men think of him as their hero. She knew. And maybe before Sonic killed him, she could help him a little. If she got to know some of the delicious details of his life too.

"So why do you want to destroy us all? Is there any reason, any reason at all you want to burn this forest down? You seem to be doing quite a good job of it right now. I was thinking I was going to die back there, with that creation of yours. What makes you want to do such a thing? What's hurting you so much?"

"Hurting me?" he asked, a little shocked, but still pressing the barrel of the gun. "Nothing is hurting me more than to see a disgusting sack of shit here. I simply want to burn this forest down so everyone will see me as the man I really am: a martyr. A saint. That's all there is to it. No other reason. I thought I was going to kill all of you, but I guess you could say you're a meddling kid for being in this business in the first place. Now, why do you want to save this forest? Why did you want the dragonfly's heart that I took in the first place? Tell me a little about yourself. Don't dawdle too much on the details. Or else I'll pull the trigger a little early only knowing your name. Speak. Don't stutter."

Silence. She swallowed the first draft of her words as she carefully planned them, then she did as he said. She spoke.

"I simply want to save my husband. That's it. Maybe I want to bring the kingdoms together too, but if I can be with Sonic and that's all, I would be just happy with that. I'm not picky. I'm happy with just a happy ending for the both of us. And you want a happy ending for yourself. To be a martyr. To be a hero. But I think you're going to need more than that to be one. I don't think destroying a civilization of people is going to bring that at all. Please don't get angry at me and pull the trigger so suddenly. Listen to me for a bit, and then you can decide if you want to end my life."

She saw Sonic stir a little, his arms moving suddenly. She had to be quick now. The dragon was going to awaken, and it was going to kill either one of them with a vicious flash of fangs and claws.

He lowered his gun a little from her neck. She knew that this meant he was willing to listen. And she began.

"You remind me of the East. They want to kill the rest of the kingdoms and simply have an entire large kingdom for themselves. And that's what you said was a deadly disease. Pride. And you told me you wanted to teach me a lesson so I know how evil pride is. I can tell you're not a completely bad person. You maybe even regret the evil deeds you did. Maybe you just simply don't have a golden heart anymore. Maybe someone took it from you. A witch? To be imbued with the great intelligence you have? I can tell you're smart, Eggman. If you weren't, you wouldn't be able to create those beasts you made for this war. You simply traded in your kindness for talent. And while talent is certainly important in this world, don't you think kindness has a place of its own too? It isn't too late you know. You can drop the gun, you can say you're sorry, and you can try to make up for what you did. I'd forgive you. I'm sure Sonic would too. It isn't too late. Drop the gun, and we'll talk. If you disagree with me, you can go ahead and shoot me, but remember that it's simply your pride, your black heart, that's making you do this, and you will never be a true hero among men. You can do the right thing. And I can do the right thing. Please Eggman, you can do…"

"I don't think so!" She shivered as the cold metal was pressed against her again. So be it. She couldn't convince him. And now was her turn to die like the rest of the fallen soldiers on this earth.

"I may be full of pride, but I would never make myself work with the lot of you! I have no business helping any of you, I'm sure I would be a hero among men helping getting rid of all you disgusting creatures! It was nice knowing you Amy, but I think I know what decision to make here. Goodbye Amy Rose, I'll see you in Hell!"

_Click._

All he needed to do was pull the trigger, and she would be dead.

All Sonic needed to do was open his eyes, look at the both of them, and both of them would be dead.

The beast was awakened. His eyes were red, golden-rimmed with colors like the sun that was trying so hard to comfort the forest in its destruction, his tail flickered and swished and he grinned madly, seeing the doctor ready to shoot his love, his beautiful wench, his Amy Rose, and he thought he had another plan of action than to murder him with the slice of his knives. Another way to get the man to stop, another way to save his ugly, his pink-quilled bitch, his lovely, his sacrosanct beauty, his Amy.

"Amy…" he growled, his teeth shining through the smoke and darkness. "_Amy__Rose!__"_

He placed his long, machete claws inside his chest, ripping through the scales and the dense armor, ripping through his veins and his arteries, ripping through the chambers, and he ripped open his heart, his golden heart that could shine through the smoke and the darkness with an aureate glow, that shined so brightly to Amy's eyes and to the egg-shaped man, and she could see it it was as smooth as the dragonfly's heart she was holding, as smooth as velvet, and while black blood dripped from it, creating a pool for the grass that was dying away from the small embers from the fire, he screamed as much as he could with his gathered breath, "_Amy__Rose!__Do__the__right__thing!__"_

The heart fell from his grasp, the golden metallic, the smooth velvet, the black blooded and the still beating heart fell to the earth, and it chimed with the song that Amy last sung to it, the song about the Goddess splitting the planet in two halves, one with order, one with chaos, and in that instant second, she could see how ugly his death was. His chest was still open, his chambers were still bleeding copious amounts of the black blood, and his scales and knived hands were gone, and he was back to the kind, lovable Sonic, as he laid there, dead and bloody and heartless.

Silence.

He didn't kill either of them. He killed himself, for his love.

Sacrifice. Her father talked about it once. She thought this kind of thing would never apply to her. A drastic situation that most children would never understand. But it was happening now, and she knew exactly what Sonic said to her. _To__do__the__right__thing._To ease the suffering of both of them. To quench their thirst for comfort, to bandage the wounds and pain.

More silence. The gun was still pressed to her neck. She still shivered. She still swallowed the draft of her words. But now she knew what to do.

"Here, Eggman." And in the palm of his hand, the one that wasn't holding the gun near her neck, he was now holding the dragonfly's heart. The one he took a while ago, the one that was originally his.

"Eat it. You're the one who needs it more than me. I can tell you're really not a bad man inside. You just need your heart again. Eat it, and I swear everything will be alright. Just eat it. My husband is dead anyways, and I can't give it to a dead man."

He backed the gun away, and she no longer felt the cold metal. He was amazed at the sudden few seconds that happened right before his eyes. Even his black heart could feel it.

He glanced at the heart for a few moments, then back at the pink hedgehog, and he held the heart in both of his hands, and he ate it.

The heart oozed a golden juice as his teeth bit down it, ripping the red skin and the arteries and the veins and the chambers, and the doctor felt a sudden renewal, a sudden rebirth. A phoenix that was arising from the ashes in a burst of scarlet and golden flames. As he continued to devour it, he felt the old him wrap around him, knowing that the gun he was holding and the intellect he had and the pride he had for himself were not the answers, and they slowly dissolved away, much like the fruit slowly dissolved into his mouth. His heart peeled away the black skin, the black dirt and coal and dust that gathered there for many years, and soon, the golden veil inside his heart began to shine in a small sliver, and then to a glow that was as blinding as the sun, as its rays stabbed through the smoky clouds and onto the three of them, and as soon as the doctor managed to process his rebirth, he stopped for a moment and gazed at the pink hedgehog who was kind enough to sacrifice the dragonfly's heart to save his life, and he got down on his knees, and sobbed.

"I'm sorry for everything! I'm sorry for nearly killing you, Amy Rose! I'm sorry for trying to be a god, Forest Goddess! I'm sorry for killing all of these soldiers and I'm sorry for wanting to destroy all of these civilizations…I promise to be good, really! I promise to try to make everything right and good again and rebuild the forest and make up for all the lives that were lost in this forest! I'm sorry! I really am! I'm very, very sorry!"

Amy held his head as he continued to sob, wishing he could go to every single soldier that was charred and battered and bloodied in the battlefield and wish them for a safe trip to the afterlife. He could feel kindness and goodness in his heart again, and he could feel it ringing and beating in every inch of his soul. It sang the last song that it heard, from Sonic's song, from Amy's song, and she could hear it belting out the tune about the two halves of the planet, the halves of order and chaos.

When Amy turned back to Sonic, the bleeding black carcass where his golden heart lied, she could see a green haired woman with red markings on her back, with her eyebrows the green blades of grass on the earth and the moss colored tears she spread when she cried over him. She thought she would never see this deity ever in her life, and many of them only said she was only a myth, and that she never really existed to protect the forest. And she thought she believed it. After all, where was she when the man decided to destroy the forest with his swamp dragon? She knew some said the Forest Goddess was cruel, but she didn't really seem to be, as she touched Sonic's body, her tears flowing down the still warm fur that was drifting away as his heart seemed to take him to Hell.

She turned, then touched Amy with her long arms like tree branches and said, "So it was you. You were the one who saved this forest."

The only thing she could do was nod. She was tired, and very distraught over Sonic's death, the tears in her eyes beginning to form. She could barely think, could barely make sense out of the words that fell from people's mouths.

"You were the one who finally brought order to the forest, and made this whole battle between the human and me very interesting. While I can't promise for order to be always in the forest, you've done me, and a lot of people, and even the warring kingdoms, a huge favor, and we cannot thank you enough. You've brought a very satisfying battle, a very satisfying conclusion, and I think I'll make it up for you in this journey by granting you a wish. And you don't have to tell me what you wish for, weary one. I know exactly what it is that you want, and that's for your husband to no longer be cruel and for him to be alive, correct?"

All she heard was "husband, no longer be cruel" and "alive", the tears streaming down her face, and she nodded, her eyes feeling like they were ready to drop to the floor.

"Of course that's what you want. And I will make it so."

She puckered her green lips, wet with dew from the morning mist before the fire arose, and she kissed the blue hedgehog. Her tears from her moss-colored eyes dropped to his body, and they slowly patched him, allowing his golden heart to return to his blood-soaked body as it inched across the ground like a worm, and the blood soon returned to his body as it sewed into his body like a little girl's doll in those very quick and agonizing seconds as Amy watched him recover. Her eyes couldn't stray away from him as his chest rose, and he breathed slowly but steadily, and she saw that there were no longer any scales on his body or a demonic tail or fangs or machete claws, but it was him, the king Prince Sonic, the prince that was him before his heart was taken away, and Amy was too happy to thank the Forest Goddess, the tears in her eyes beginning to swarm again from so much joy and happiness, as she leaned closer to him, feeling his golden heart beat sing the song she sang to him what seemed to be such a long time ago, and he smiled, looked into her eyes, and said, "Hello, beautiful."

She laughed, and hugged him, the blue hedgehog giving her a strong kiss on the lips as the Forest Goddess made the fires die down, slowly dissolving into the earth, and the smoke whittled away to small gray clouds, and the sun could poke its head again, its long tendrils of golden light shining on Sonic and Amy as they held hands tenderly, their fingers locking into each other, and they hugged as the light bathed them. The dragonflies flit back to them, and the sun glittered on them as they surrounded the lovers, their magic singing out in a little sing-song voice before they walked hand in hand…

_And you will forever know of_

_A dragonfly's heart_

**AN:****This****story****is****actually****technically****not****over****yet.****Very****soon****I****will****write****the****epilogue,****and****knowing****how****quick****these****chapters****will****come****out****now****I****'****m****sure****I****could****probably****get****this****as****done****as****tomorrow.**


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: Chapter will be edited as soon as I arrive home from work.**

**I hope you enjoy the final chapter. This is my second novel-like fanfic completed.**

After many years of turmoil, war, and prejudice, after many years of hate and propaganda against both warring nations, Rouge, the Mistress of the West Kingdom, announced that she will be resigning her place as the queen, and will be taken over by King Rhyiuk, a lizard from the East that saw how much hate could blind a man and lead him to misery and destruction, and he kindly took care of the Mistress in his home when her insanity clouded her judgment and allowed her to no longer see the sunlight after the death of her husband.

Knuckles died, like so many of her loved ones. And shortly after, King Rhyiuk's son, Rhyium, died of the same illness.

The East and West were quite similar in a lot of ways. They suffered from the same spread of disease, the same pangs of hunger, the same perpetual darkness that clouded their minds and made them crazed and lust for blood. Rhyiuk refused for Rouge to be sent to an asylum, and instead allowed her in his kingdom. Her mind was almost completely scraped away by the corpses of her family and husband and the world nearly ending when she met the egg-shaped man who used to wish upon their destruction, but has since reformed and is now a chancellor to the king. His intelligence was lost, but he wished to do anything to make up for the lives he shed, and is now a counselor to both Rhyiuk and Rouge.

And as always, she drinks her tea, thinking of what she could've done to save her husband. She should've helped the pink quilled bitch and never decide on killing her. She never should've decided to make her name the black widow. She should've never killed those men. And now she thinks this is her punishment. Insanity. The death of Knuckles. The hate that came from her kingdom when she announced killing her own men and being as crippled as a leper.

Maybe it was her time to die soon. Maybe she would soon get the same disease that Knuckles and the rest of her family had.

And so be it, she thought. Nothing more could be done, nothing more could be thought, nothing more could be won and conquered. She was sure that Rhyiuk would be a great king, fueled by the anguish of losing his son and the anguish of how far the East and West have gone in their hatred, and she was sure he would make it right, and make it so.

She walked through the woods to see the grave of her dead husband. "Here lies Knuckles," it said. "A great fighter, a wonderful husband to Mistress Rouge, 2010-2039." And as if the sadness had crawled into her brain and began to devour it, she laughed. Her laughter choked and garbled down her throat into her body and the gun _clank__clank__clanked_ against her, and she gave out one last utter of "goodbye, my kingdom, goodbye, my sweet Rhyiuk, and hello Knuckie, and hello to you too Satan."

_Click._

And she was dead.

Rhyiuk planned for all of the East and all of the West to gather around for her funeral, for the one who brought them together, for their martyr, for their sweet queen that loved her husband dearly and was ready to do anything for him. Even give her life to see him.

The black widow was eaten by her own troubles, her own insanity, and not by her children that she was supposed to bring into the world. The black widow sought, and lost everything. But if she brought both the East and West together, it was meant to be, and her suffering was not in vain.

Amy Rose and Prince Sonic arrived back to their kingdoms, announcing that they wished for both the North and South to be brought together, and for their love for each other.

Of course, both the kings would not hear of this, as the Northern King still believed that the South killed his beautiful and precious daughter Diana, and he told Amy that he wished for her to never see this Prince Sonic and to never announce their love or the morphing of the two kingdoms ever again.

"I know that Prince Sonic is no longer a demon, but his father still killed Diana and I will still never forgive him! I don't care that you're in love with him, I loved my daughter too, but he just went ahead and one of his soldiers murdered her in cold blood! You can never see him again, please stay here and become the new queen for the North and forget your entire adventure ever happened!"

"I cannot allow that father!" He was silent. He never expected his own daughter, the one who used to been so meek and looked up to Diana so much simply because she was the bigger sister, to talk back to him. But Amy was no longer meek. Amy no longer looked up to anyone. Ever since he announced he banished her she has grown so much. She was more mature, calmer, and more rational, and she has faced so much that even her father himself couldn't think he would survive. He was still so proud of her, but he missed her during those days she was missing, and he was so sure that he lost yet another one of his daughters. Even if he still wanted her to stay, under the comfort of the kingdom and his watchful eye, he allowed her to speak, and he listened.

"I don't think the South killed Diana. I don't think Sonic killed her. He became cold during those months where Diana was gone often, but he had no reason or motive to kill her. Trust me, Sonic may have been cruel in his words and thoughts, but in his actions he barely did a thing against anyone, except to his horse Nanaka and he once attacked Rhyiuk, but he told me he regretted those things deeply, as he loved his horse and now Rhyiuk is a fair ruler in both the East and West. If he even killed her I'm sure he would open up about it, but he swears he would never do such a thing even under the curse! He's speaking the truth father, why won't you believe him?"

"Because I loved Diana!" he shouted, his voice shaking all the golden and silver treasures with its sheer strength. His voice was so loud that Amy's mother could hear it through the hallways, and she rushed into the throne room, worried and concerned, her large hand placed on the king's shoulder.

_Amy__'__s__mother__went__through__so__much_, he thought. _She__said__if__she__was__dead,__she__would__'__ve__killed__herself.__Certainly__a__step__further__than__I__would__'__ve__taken__if__I__ever__found__out__another__one__of__my__daughters__was__dead._

His voice was still firm, but his face softened a little, believing that Amy was a big girl now, and she needed better reasons why she could never be with the man she loved. If he could ever convince her to do such a thing as never meet him again.

"I'm sorry Amy, but if you can prove to me that the South or Prince Sonic never killed Diana, then I will allow you to see him and maybe you can even get married and I will be no more than happy to throw you a grand ball. But I cannot forgive the man who may have killed her, and I cannot forgive the man who nearly killed you, no matter how much he's willing to amend for everything he did. He respects my decision to do so, but…" He just wanted to have his daughter in his arms again. He wished he could take her away from all of the dangers that this whole world of Neo Geo Forest had to offer, but he knew there was no convincing her. Amy would try to find the clues to who really murdered Diana, to be with the prince she dearly loved. But yet as she left the castle, he believed in her. He believed that Amy would find a way to be with Sonic, no matter anything he ever said to her. It was how her whole adventure got started in the first place. He wanted her to be with a man she never wanted to marry, and she ran away. And he was sure if he couldn't be convinced, she would run away again. Into the dangerous swamp and forest.

She's not a prissy princess anymore like I nearly raised her to be. She's all grown now. I'm sure there's nothing I can do to stop her from being with the man she loves.

He looked back out to the garden, noticing the small fragments that remained from the clay doll of Isabelle he destroyed. Almost all of the pieces were nearly gone. And he wasn't sure why that would be.

Amy set herself out to go to the South, to meet her beloved. If her father was going to try to stop her again, she would just set out to the forest again and meet him. She did it before. And she was willing to do it again.

As she walked, her eye caught a glimpse of a green snake with red circular markings on its scaly skin, its color and markings wholly familiar. She waited as it slithered down the tree and into the ground, and she saw the woman with the forest green hair and the green lips and the moss and bladed grass eyes to appear before her.

"That's one thing I always liked about you Amy Rose. You're determined to do anything for the people you love. You made this entire year very exciting and you even had the gall to bring the West and East together. And I'm very soon you will bring the North and South together too. Because I have reason for your father to know that it wasn't Sonic or even the South who killed Diana. It's been so long since her death has happened and it's still making headlines around your home, isn't it? Your father cares and loves you very much, and never wants to be separated from his daughters again, I see. That's why I made the bargain for him to kill Sonic and I will bring his clay daughter Isabelle to life. But I see we don't need to do that anymore."

"You _what_? You wanted _him_ to kill Sonic? I know I'm not supposed to question you, but, what are you…"

Her leaf tipped fingernail shushed her and her brimming anger.

"I'll just come clean for you, and I will make you a deal. I was the one who killed Diana, but I have a very good reason for it. If I didn't kill Diana, then none of this would've happened. The wars, your father wanting you to grow up just as fast as her and have the arranged marriage, you running away and meeting Sonic and saving him and ultimately falling in love with him…I wanted the kingdoms to come together, but I had to light the match to start the fire that would bring it all together. The renewal of the kingdom. The rebirth. And I had to have a very important person to die. You understand that, don't you? That I had to make her die so I can light the one match to start this whole forest fire to give life to a new set of trees with its ashes?"

"The slit on her neck…" She realized that the Forest Goddess could transform to any kind of animal she wanted to be. A snake, a parrot, even the same beast that nearly took Sonic's life as he would slowly transform into it. It was a very delicate, very intricate plan to blame the death on Sonic to start the war and to start Amy's journey to find him.

And no one could question the Forest Goddess on why did these things. She can bring chaos, and she can bring order. She had plans for everything. She can give, and she can take too. She was sure she had a more delicate plan for the rest of the kingdom, and for the rest of Neo Geo Forest. While the Forest Goddess was cruel, she was also wise, and knew that this plan would work.

"But…I have something that will make up for it, Rose. I'm willing to give your father, and you and Sonic a very special gift for playing along in my plans. Just close your eyes, and soon you will hear a sound, and I want you to look above this tree and pluck it. This will be the last time you will hear from me Amy Rose, and I swear this gift will bring you years upon years of happiness for your father and for you and Sonic. Just…close your eyes."

And she did. She could sense that the Forest Goddess disappeared in the darkness with a flap of wings from transforming into a bird of some kind, but as she wondered what the Forest Goddess was possibly talking about with a gift, she heard crying a few feet above her. A crying that sound like it would come from a baby when it was just born unto the world.

She opened her eyes, and looked to see that there was a cradle in the branches of the tree. It rocked slowly, under the glare of the sun, then from the soft rustle of the wind that tickled the tree, it dropped and landed unto Amy's hands. She uncovered the baby from the pink blanket that it was bundled in, as it continued to mewl softly, comforted by her embrace.

The baby looked exactly like her sister, Diana.

"Daddy Sonic, pick me up again, I want you to play with me!"

"I can't right now sweetheart, it's your bedtime. I'll get your mother here and she can send you off to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day, so I want you to get as much rest as you can, do you understand?"

"Yeah, I guess so…"

He picked her up, the purple hoglet being carried by the kind Prince Sonic, him smiling sweetly as he called her mother, Amy Rose, to her bedroom. It was a long night, and tomorrow would be the day where they would announce the coming together of the North and South, a new rebirth for the kingdom. And they wanted their daughter to witness the event, the opening of the roads that went across the entire forest and swamplands to their brothers, and the entire kingdom would be in harmony and in peace. And it was not something that he wanted her to sleep through. It was something that he wanted everyone to witness.

The pink hedgehog arrived in her room, wearing a royal pink garb that her father picked out just for her, her father, possibly the happiest man alive right now, seeing his daughter so grown up and seeing all of the kingdoms in peace after so many years. It was something he thought he would never see in his days. As she sat down on the seat by her bed, and watched as their daughter, Diana the Second, was tucked in by her husband. He gave her a small kiss on the forehead, and said, "Goodnight Diana. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight Sonic. Do you think mom can sing me the song that I love so much? You know, that song you said you heard a long time ago?"

"Well, I guess it wasn't so long ago I heard it," she said, as her fingers curled up with Sonic's, the both of them smiling. "But of course I can sing it to you again sweetie. Anything for you, my darling little princess."

Sonic and Diana closed their eyes, listening intently and dreamily, as she sang the song of so long ago.

_Don't cry little one, don't be afraid_

_Don't be afraid of your emotions_

_Trapping you in a mental cage_

_We are still here, you and me_

_And I will protect you, don't be scared to look and see_

_We will hold hands until the jaylark sings_

_Until the sun and moon are a'hanged over the trees_

_Our bodies are united, we will never part_

_We will fly together, I will take you under my wing_

_And you will forever know of_

_A dragonfly's heart_

She thought that Sonic fell asleep under her voice, but as soon as she gently shook him, he awoke, gazing at their daughter, sound asleep in her bed.

"Isn't she precious, Amy? I can't believe the Forest Goddess was kind enough to give us this gift."

"Yeah. Yeah she is. But…I can't believe on how far I've gone, Sonic. It seems so long since I met you. Since I went to the forest because my father thought that whole arranged marriage was going to work out and all. Even if you were under a curse, I'm so glad I helped you, and I'm so glad I stuck with you during that time. I think you're just as big as a gift as Diana was."

"Yeah, you think so?" He smirked. "I'm glad to know that even when I had a black heart, you stuck with me too. If I was with myself during all that time I'm sure I would've given him a big punch in the face if you know what I mean."

"I know," she said, not even laughing at his joke, too absorbed in the moment. "I really thought I was going to die several times. My father even said that he thought he wouldn't have survived some of those things we've done. The big battles, the forest fire, I even had a gun close to my head. But as you would say, none of those things really matter now, and what matters is that we're here, and we have an adorable daughter and we're king and queen and soon the kingdom would be in peace. And that's a big moment to witness. There were a lot of wars and a lot of fighting, but I'm not sure if this is completely the end. Do you think the Forest Goddess is…"

He shushed her. She knew he didn't want to hear about the future or the past. Just the now.

"Come outside. The moon looks really grand right now, and you should see what the world looks like under this castle. It's really a thing to behold."

And they went outside, the night wind cooling them as they sat on the balcony, gazing at the very many white stars and the very many houses that were decked above and below them. The jewels in the sky, and the glittering lights on the ground. Everywhere around them were lights, including the large white sharp moon that was gazing at the both of them as they held hands, and they began to dance as the wind breathed through their gowns and the moon and starlight made their balcony a stage for all of the world to see.

He held her close to him, and planted a kiss on her lips, the stars and moon glittering through their quills and eyes, and on the dragonfly that flew and landed on the stone fence on their balcony, its crystal eyes gazing at the both of them.

And Sonic said, "You see that dragonfly, right there? I will love you and be with you as much as that dragonfly will be with its mate. Trust me Amy. And you shall heed my word for it and believe me, that you really will forever know of a dragonfly's heart. My heart, that is."

**THE END**


End file.
